Odorant-specific spatial patterns in mucosal activity predict perceptual differences among odorants

1995 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 1777-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. F. Kent ◽  
S. L. Youngentob ◽  
P. R. Sheehe

1. Using operant techniques, rats were trained to differentially report (i.e., identify) the odorants propanol, carvone, citral, propyl acetate, and ethylacetoacetate. After acquisition training, the animals were tested using a 5 x 5 confusion matrix design. The results of the behavioral tests were used to measure the degree of perceptual dissimilarity between any pair of odorants. These dissimilarity measures were then subjected to multidimensional scaling analysis to establish a two-dimensional perceptual odor space for each rat. 2. At the completion of behavioral testing, the fluorescence changes in the dye di-4-ANEPPS were monitored on the rat's nasal septum and medial surface of the turbinates in response to the same odorants. For each mucosal surface a 6.0 x 6.0 mm area was sampled at 100 contiguous sites with a 10 x 10 photodiode array. 3. Formal statistical analysis indicated a highly significant predictive relationship between the relative position of an odorant's mucosal loci of maximal activity or “hot spot” and the relative position of the same odorant in a psychophysically determined perceptual odor space (F = 15.6, P < 0.001). 4. The results of this study suggest for the first time that odorant-induced mucosal activity patterns serve as the substrate for the perception of odorant quality.

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 387-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. L. Youngentob ◽  
P. F. Kent ◽  
P. R. Sheehe ◽  
J. E. Schwob ◽  
E. Tzoumaka

1. Fluorescence changes in the dye di-4-ANEPPS were monitored on the rat's nasal septum and medial surface of the turbinates in response to odorant stimuli. For each mucosal surface a 6.0 x 6.0-mm area was sampled at 100 contiguous sites with a 10 x 10 photodiode array. The odorants were propyl acetate, 2-propanol, citral, L-carvone and ethylacetoacetate, each presented at a low and high concentration. 2. Like previous work using optical recording techniques and potential-sensitive dyes on the amphibian epithelium, the fluorescence signals elicited by odorant stimuli in the rat preparation were nearly identical in shape, time course, and response characteristics as the electroolfactogram (EOG). As with the EOG, a response could only be recorded in the presence of odorant stimuli (that is, no response was detected when nonodorized, humidified air was presented as the stimulus); the amplitude depended on odorant concentration, and the response was abolished both by ether and Triton X-100. 3. Although the entire expanse of each sampled tissue (i.e., septum and medial surface of the turbinates) responded to stimulation with each odorant, each stimulus induced a distinct spatial pattern of activity that was independent of odorant concentration and consistent from animal to animal. Furthermore, the spatial activity patterns recorded for the septum were mirror images of those recorded from the medial surface of the turbinates. 4. Formal statistical analysis of the loci of maximal activity or "hot spot" indicated highly significant effects of the odorants for both the septum and medial surface of the turbinates. 5. The results of these studies give further support to the hypothesis that odorant quality is encoded by differential spatial activity patterns in the olfactory epithelium that are characteristic of different odorants.


2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 2527-2540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Giusti ◽  
Vladimir Itskov

It is often hypothesized that a crucial role for recurrent connections in the brain is to constrain the set of possible response patterns, thereby shaping the neural code. This implies the existence of neural codes that cannot arise solely from feedforward processing. We set out to find such codes in the context of one-layer feedforward networks and identified a large class of combinatorial codes that indeed cannot be shaped by the feedforward architecture alone. However, these codes are difficult to distinguish from codes that share the same sets of maximal activity patterns in the presence of subtractive noise. When we coarsened the notion of combinatorial neural code to keep track of only maximal patterns, we found the surprising result that all such codes can in fact be realized by one-layer feedforward networks. This suggests that recurrent or many-layer feedforward architectures are not necessary for shaping the (coarse) combinatorial features of neural codes. In particular, it is not possible to infer a computational role for recurrent connections from the combinatorics of neural response patterns alone. Our proofs use mathematical tools from classical combinatorial topology, such as the nerve lemma and the existence of an inverse nerve. An unexpected corollary of our main result is that any prescribed (finite) homotopy type can be realized by a subset of the form [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is a polyhedron.


2019 ◽  
Vol 209 ◽  
pp. 41-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Santner ◽  
S. Scott Goldsborough

Author(s):  
J. B. Warren

Electron diffraction intensity profiles have been used extensively in studies of polycrystalline and amorphous thin films. In previous work, diffraction intensity profiles were quantitized either by mechanically scanning the photographic emulsion with a densitometer or by using deflection coils to scan the diffraction pattern over a stationary detector. Such methods tend to be slow, and the intensities must still be converted from analog to digital form for quantitative analysis. The Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven has designed and constructed a electron diffractometer, based on a silicon photodiode array, that overcomes these disadvantages. The instrument is compact (Fig. 1), can be used with any unmodified electron microscope, and acquires the data in a form immediately accessible by microcomputer.Major components include a RETICON 1024 element photodiode array for the de tector, an Analog Devices MAS-1202 analog digital converter and a Digital Equipment LSI 11/2 microcomputer. The photodiode array cannot detect high energy electrons without damage so an f/1.4 lens is used to focus the phosphor screen image of the diffraction pattern on to the photodiode array.


Author(s):  
G. Jacobs ◽  
F. Theunissen

In order to understand how the algorithms underlying neural computation are implemented within any neural system, it is necessary to understand details of the anatomy, physiology and global organization of the neurons from which the system is constructed. Information is represented in neural systems by patterns of activity that vary in both their spatial extent and in the time domain. One of the great challenges to microscopists is to devise methods for imaging these patterns of activity and to correlate them with the underlying neuroanatomy and physiology. We have addressed this problem by using a combination of three dimensional reconstruction techniques, quantitative analysis and computer visualization techniques to build a probabilistic atlas of a neural map in an insect sensory system. The principal goal of this study was to derive a quantitative representation of the map, based on a uniform sample of afferents that was of sufficient size to allow statistically meaningful analyses of the relationships between structure and function.


Author(s):  
J. Barbillat ◽  
M. Delhaye ◽  
P. Dhamelincourt

Raman mapping, with a spatial resolution close to the diffraction limit, can help to reveal the distribution of chemical species at the surface of an heterogeneous sample.As early as 1975,three methods of sample laser illumination and detector configuration have been proposed to perform Raman mapping at the microscopic level (Fig. 1),:- Point illumination:The basic design of the instrument is a classical Raman microprobe equipped with a PM tube or either a linear photodiode array or a two-dimensional CCD detector. A laser beam is focused on a very small area ,close to the diffraction limit.In order to explore the whole surface of the sample,the specimen is moved sequentially beneath the microscope by means of a motorized XY stage. For each point analyzed, a complete spectrum is obtained from which spectral information of interest is extracted for Raman image reconstruction.- Line illuminationA narrow laser line is focused onto the sample either by a cylindrical lens or by a scanning device and is optically conjugated with the entrance slit of the stigmatic spectrograph.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-201
Author(s):  
Melanie M. van der Ploeg ◽  
Jos F. Brosschot ◽  
Markus Quirin ◽  
Richard D. Lane ◽  
Bart Verkuil

Abstract. Stress-related stimuli may be presented outside of awareness and may ultimately influence health by causing repetitive increases in physiological parameters, such as blood pressure (BP). In this study, we aimed to corroborate previous studies that demonstrated BP effects of subliminally presented stress-related stimuli. This would add evidence to the hypothesis that unconscious manifestations of stress can affect somatic health. Additionally, we suggest that these findings may be extended by measuring affective changes relating to these physiological changes, using measures for self-reported and implicit positive and negative affectivity. Using a repeated measures between-subject design, we presented either the prime word “angry” ( n = 26) or “relax” ( n = 28) subliminally (17 ms) for 100 trials to a student sample and measured systolic and diastolic BP, heart rate (HR), and affect. The “angry” prime, compared to the “relax” prime, did not affect any of the outcome variables. During the priming task, a higher level of implicit negative affect (INA) was associated with a lower systolic BP and diastolic BP. No association was found with HR. Self-reported affect and implicit positive affect were not related to the cardiovascular (CV) activity. In sum, anger and relax primes elicited similar CV activity patterns, but implicit measures of affect may provide a new method to examine the relationship between (unconscious) stress and health.


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