Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kawai, F.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Chem. Senses 24: 701-704, 1999
© Oxford University Press 1999

Simulation Analysis of Effects of Adrenaline on Spike Generation in Olfactory Receptor Cells

Fusao Kawai

Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6058, USA and Department of Information Physiology, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8585, Japan

Correspondence to be sent to: Dr Fusao Kawai, 123 Anatomy/Chemistry Bldg, The Department of Neuroscience, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6058, USA. e-mail:kawai{at}nips.ac.jp

Adrenaline is known to affect action potentials induced by the step current injection in an olfactory receptor cell (ORC). It is unclear, however, whether it also modulates action potentials induced by odor stimuli. In the present study, the effects of adrenaline on action potentials in ORCs were investigated quantitatively using a computer simulation. Adrenaline suppressed simulated action potentials induced by step current injection near threshold, and increased spike frequency to strong stimuli by 8–25%. Similar effects were obtained by applying a pseudo-transduction current to a model cell. Surprisingly, adrenaline markedly increased spike frequency to strong stimuli by 30–140%, and increased the slope of the stimulus–response relation compared with that of the step current injection. This suggests that adrenaline enhances odorant contrast in olfactory perception by modulating signal encoding of ORCs.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.