Responses of olfactory bulb neurones to odour stimulation of small nasal areas in the salamander

Abstract

1. Previous experiments have suggested that one way odours may be discriminated is by different spatial patterns of response at both the olfactory bulb and receptor level. The present experiments were designed to test to what extent the position of an odour on the receptor mucosa can influence the activity of olfactory bulb neurones.2. To deliver odours to small areas on the nasal receptor sheet a new method for local application of odour was developed. The flow rate, concentration, and time course of the odour were controlled using the olfactometer described in the preceding paper.3. In thirty olfactory bulb units in the salamander it was found that if the response of a unit to odour delivered to the entire exposed receptor epithelium were suppression (type S), then the unit tended to be suppressed when odour was delivered to a number of localized epithelial regions. If the response were excitation (type E) to stimulation of the entire epithelium, then stimulation to only one or two localized regions would elicit the maximum response.4. Different epithelial regions had the ability to cause excitation in the same bulbar unit depending on the odour being used. Two odours, camphor and amyl acetate, elicited maximum excitation when they were presented to different mucosal areas. The areas at which presentation of these odours gave excitation were surprisingly consistent from unit to unit and animal to animal.5. The data presented here suggest the presence of restricted excitatory receptive fields for some olfactory bulb neurones for a particular odour.6. The presence of spatial response patterns using odour delivery to small nasal receptor regions and thus the presence of receptive fields is discussed with reference to bulbar neuronal circuitry.