PUBLICATION

Dynamic optimization of odor representations by slow temporal patterning of mitral cell activity

Authors
Friedrich, R.W. and Laurent, G.
ID
ZDB-PUB-010220-8
Date
2001
Source
Science (New York, N.Y.)   291(5505): 889-894 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Friedrich, Rainer
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Amino Acids
  • Animals
  • Dendrites/physiology
  • In Vitro Techniques
  • Interneurons/physiology
  • Membrane Potentials
  • Neural Conduction
  • Neural Inhibition
  • Neurons/physiology
  • Odorants*
  • Olfactory Bulb/cytology*
  • Olfactory Bulb/physiology*
  • Olfactory Pathways/physiology
  • Olfactory Receptor Neurons/physiology
  • Patch-Clamp Techniques
  • Receptors, Odorant/physiology
  • Smell/physiology*
  • Time Factors
  • Zebrafish
PubMed
11157170 Full text @ Science
Abstract
Mitral cells (MCs) in the olfactory bulb (OB) respond to odors with slow temporal firing patterns. The representation of each odor by activity patterns across the MC population thus changes continuously throughout a stimulus, in an odor-specific manner. In the zebrafish OB, we found that this distributed temporal patterning progressively reduced the similarity between ensemble representations of related odors, thereby making each odor's representation more specific over time. The tuning of individual MCs was not sharpened during this process. Hence, the individual responses of MCs did not become more specific, but the odor-coding MC assemblies changed such that their overlap decreased. This optimization of ensemble representations did not occur among olfactory afferents but resulted from OB circuit dynamics. Time can therefore gradually optimize stimulus representations in a sensory network.
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