Gagliardo Anna, Pecchia Tommaso, Savini Maria, Odetti Francesca, Ioalè Paolo, Vallortigara Giorgio
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Pisa, Via A.Volta 6, I-56126 Pisa, Italy.
Eur J Neurosci. 2007 Mar;25(5):1511-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.2007.05378.x.
It has been shown that homing pigeons (Columba livia) rely on olfactory cues to navigate from unfamiliar locations. In fact, the integrity of the olfactory system, from the olfactory mucosa to the piriform cortex, is required for pigeons to navigate over unfamiliar areas. Recently it has been shown that there is a functional asymmetry in the piriform cortex, with the left piriform cortex more involved in the use of the olfactory navigational map than the right piriform cortex. To investigate further the lateralization of the olfactory system in relation to navigational processes in carrier pigeons, we compared their homing performance after either their left or the right nostril was plugged. Contrary to our expectations, we observed an impairment in the initial orientation of the pigeons with their right nostril plugged. However, both groups released with one nostril plugged tended to be poorer than control pigeons in their homing performance. The observed asymmetry in favour of the right nostril might be due to projections from the olfactory bulbs to the contralateral globus pallidum, a structure involved in motor responses.
研究表明，家鸽（Columba livia）依靠嗅觉线索从陌生地点导航。事实上，从嗅觉黏膜到梨状皮质的嗅觉系统的完整性是鸽子在陌生区域导航所必需的。最近有研究表明，梨状皮质存在功能不对称性，左侧梨状皮质比右侧梨状皮质更多地参与嗅觉导航地图的使用。为了进一步研究信鸽嗅觉系统的侧化与导航过程的关系，我们比较了信鸽左鼻孔或右鼻孔堵塞后的归巢表现。与我们的预期相反，我们观察到右鼻孔堵塞的鸽子在初始定向方面存在障碍。然而，两组单鼻孔堵塞放飞的鸽子在归巢表现上往往比对照鸽子差。观察到的有利于右鼻孔的不对称可能是由于嗅球向对侧苍白球的投射，苍白球是一个参与运动反应的结构。
