Unité Mixte de Recherches 1272 Physiologie de l'Insecte, Signalisation et Communication, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Route de Saint-Cyr, F-78000 Versailles, France.
Chem Senses. 2010 Oct;35(8):705-15. doi: 10.1093/chemse/bjq069. Epub 2010 Jul 2.
How information is transformed along synaptic processing stages is critically important to understand the neural basis of behavior in any sensory system. In moths, males rely on sex pheromone to find their mating partner. It is essential for a male to recognize the components present in a pheromone blend, their ratio, and the temporal pattern of the signal. To examine pheromone processing mechanisms at different levels of the olfactory pathway, we performed single-cell recordings of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) in the antenna and intracellular recordings of central neurons in the macroglomerular complex (MGC) of the antennal lobe of sexually mature Agrotis ipsilon male moths, using the same pheromone stimuli, stimulation protocol, and response analyses. Detailed characteristics of the ORN and MGC-neuron responses were compared to describe the transformation of the neuronal responses that takes place in the MGC. Although the excitatory period of the response is similar in both neuron populations, the addition of an inhibitory phase following the MGC neuron excitatory phase indicates participation of local interneurons (LN), which remodel the ORN input. Moreover, MGC neurons showed a wider tuning and a higher sensitivity to single pheromone components than ORNs.
信息沿着突触处理阶段的转化对于理解任何感觉系统中行为的神经基础都至关重要。在飞蛾中，雄性依靠性信息素来寻找交配伙伴。雄性识别信息素混合物中存在的成分、它们的比例以及信号的时间模式是至关重要的。为了研究嗅觉通路不同水平的信息处理机制，我们使用相同的信息素刺激、刺激方案和反应分析，对性成熟的 Agrotis ipsilon 雄性飞蛾触角中的嗅觉受体神经元（ORN）进行单细胞记录，并对触角叶中的巨球复合体内的中枢神经元进行细胞内记录。我们比较了 ORN 和 MGC-神经元反应的详细特征，以描述 MGC 中发生的神经元反应的转换。尽管两个神经元群体的反应兴奋期相似，但在 MGC 神经元兴奋期之后加入抑制期表明局部中间神经元（LN）的参与，它们重塑了 ORN 的输入。此外，MGC 神经元对单个信息素成分的调谐范围更广，敏感性更高。
