Temporal representations of odors in an olfactory network. Laurent, G., Wehr, M., & Davidowitz, H. J. Neurosci., 16:3837-3847, 1996.
abstract   bibtex   
The responses of projection neurons in the antennal robe of the locust brain (the functional analog of mitral-tufted cells in the vertebrate olfactory bulb) lo natural blends and simple odors were studied with multiple intra- and extracellular recordings in vivo. Individual odors evoked complex temporal response patterns in many neurons. These patterns differed across odors for a given neuron and across neurons for a given odor, but were stable for each neuron over repealed presentations (separated by seconds to minutes) of the same odor. The response of individual neurons to an odor was superimposed on an odors specific coherent oscillatory population activity. Each neuron usually participated in the coherent oscillations during one or more specific epochs of the ensemble activity. These epochs of phase locking were reliable for each neuron over tens of repeated presentations of one odor. The timing of these epochs of synchronization differed across neurons and odors. Correlated activity of specific pairs of neurons, hence, generally occurred transiently during the population response, at times that were specific to these pairs and to the odor smelled. The field potential oscillations, therefore, fail to reveal a progressive transformation of the synchronized ensemble as the response to the odor unfolds. We propose that (1) odors are represented by spatially and temporally distributed ensembles of coherently firing neurons, and (2) the field potential oscillations that characterize odor responses in the olfactory system occur, at least in this animal, in parallel with a slower dynamic odor representation.
@article{ Laurent_etal96,
  author = {Laurent, G. and Wehr, M. and Davidowitz,H.},
  title = {Temporal representations of odors in an olfactory network},
  journal = {J. Neurosci.},
  year = {1996},
  volume = {16},
  pages = {3837-3847},
  abstract = {The responses of projection neurons in the antennal robe of the locust
	brain (the functional analog of mitral-tufted cells in the vertebrate
	olfactory bulb) lo natural blends and simple odors were studied with
	multiple intra- and extracellular recordings in vivo. Individual
	odors evoked complex temporal response patterns in many neurons.
	These patterns differed across odors for a given neuron and across
	neurons for a given odor, but were stable for each neuron over repealed
	presentations (separated by seconds to minutes) of the same odor.
	The response of individual neurons to an odor was superimposed on
	an odors specific coherent oscillatory population activity. Each
	neuron usually participated in the coherent oscillations during one
	or more specific epochs of the ensemble activity. These epochs of
	phase locking were reliable for each neuron over tens of repeated
	presentations of one odor. The timing of these epochs of synchronization
	differed across neurons and odors. Correlated activity of specific
	pairs of neurons, hence, generally occurred transiently during the
	population response, at times that were specific to these pairs and
	to the odor smelled. The field potential oscillations, therefore,
	fail to reveal a progressive transformation of the synchronized ensemble
	as the response to the odor unfolds. We propose that (1) odors are
	represented by spatially and temporally distributed ensembles of
	coherently firing neurons, and (2) the field potential oscillations
	that characterize odor responses in the olfactory system occur, at
	least in this animal, in parallel with a slower dynamic odor representation.},
  en_number = {1.13:14}
}

Downloads: 0