Document Type

Article

Original Publication Date

1980

Journal/Book/Conference Title

The Biophysical Journal

Volume

29

Issue

3

First Page

397

Last Page

411

DOI of Original Publication

10.1016/S0006-3495(80)85142-3

Comments

Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3495(80)85142-3

Under an Elsevier user license

Date of Submission

February 2015

Abstract

Excitatory responses recorded from vertebrate olfactory sensory neurons are characterized by long latencies compared with those from other sensory receptors. Explanations which assume free access of the stimuli to receptor molecules presumably located on the olfactory cilia necessarily imply an intrinsic delay in the transduction mechanism. In contrast, the possibility of restricted or delayed access due to diffusion of the stimulus to molecular receptors located on the dendritic knob or proximal portions of the cilia suggests transduction processes having time courses similar to those in other sensory systems. We show that the threshold stimulus concentration and the latency of the excitatory response of the salamander can be predicted primarily on the basis of a diffusional delay and that the receptor molecules are well below the surface of the mucus. Examination of response latencies for other species reported in the literature support the generality of diffusional delay. The predicted location of molecular receptor sites is largely insensitive to assumptions based on the mode of clearance of the stimuli. Additional access restrictions are discussed but are shown to generate qualitatively different latency functions than does diffusion, suggesting that they exert only minor influences on latency and threshold characteristics.

Rights

From The Biophysical Journal, Getchell, T.V., Heck, G.L., DeSimone, J.A., et al., The location of olfactory receptor sites. Inferences from latency measurements, Vol. 29, Page 397. Copyright © 1980 The Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. Reprinted with permission.

Is Part Of

VCU Physiology and Biophysics Publications

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