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Chapter 14. The Chemical Senses. Olfaction - many kinds of information Taste (gustation) - food information Trigeminal - noxious information. Olfactory System. Anatomy
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Chapter 14 The Chemical Senses
Olfaction - many kinds of information • Taste (gustation) - food information • Trigeminal - noxious information
Olfactory System • Anatomy • Olfactory epithelium--> olfactory bulb--> olfatory tract --> pyriform cortex and other forebrain structures, amygdala and hypothalamus.
The map of olfactory processing in the brain • Not really understood
What can we smell? • Airborne odours • Concentration: • e.g.(pizza odour) IBMP, 2 nM • similar chemical structures are perceived differently, e.g. spearmint and caraway seeds
What can we smell? • Changes with age • E.g. Children smell crayons • Adults, oregano is pleasant
Concentration differences • Floral in low dose is pleasant • Is putrid in high dose
mixtures • Most odours are composed of very many chemicals. • E.g. stawberry odor has about 60 compounds
Old age • Loose ability to correctly identify an odor. • The corresponding region of the brain is not active too.
Physiological and behavioural responses to odours. • Visceral responses: Smell food--> salivation and gastric motility • Noxious smell-->gag
Physiological and behavioural responses to odours. • Reproductive and endocrine functions • Women housed together synchronize menstral cycles • Smelling gauze pads from underarms of women also synchronizes menstral cycles.
Physiological and behavioural responses to odours. • Infants recognize mothers by scent • Mothers can recognize the scent her baby.
Pheromones Species specific odorants. Some pheromones stimulate the vomeronasal organ VNO--> accessory olfactory bulb-->hypothalamus. (Found in 8% of human adults), VNO receptors are pseudogenes in humans.
Olfactory receptor (sensory) neuron • In the olfactory epithelium • Have cilia projecting into the nasal cavity mucus • These cells become damaged, and turnover.
Two olfactory subsystems • Main • Vomeronasal