HSC 350 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Olfactory Receptor Neuron, Olfactory Receptor, Olfactory Bulb Mitral Cell
Document Summary
The olfactory system processes information about the identity, concentration, and quality of a wide range of chemical stimuli (odorants) that we associate with our sense of smell. Odorants interact with olfactory receptor neurons found in the olfactory epithelium that lines the interior of the nose. The transduction of olfactory information occurs in the olfactory epithelium, the sheet of neurons and supporting cells that lines approximately half of the nasal cavities. The olfactory receptor neuron is a bipolar cell that gives rise to a small-diameter, unmyelinated axon at its basal surface that transmits olfactory information centrally. At its apical surface, the receptor neuron gives rise to a single dendritic process that expands into a knoblike protrusion from which several microvilli, called olfactory cilia, extend into a thick layer of mucus. The first site for the processing of olfactory information in the brain.
