Manzini I, Frasnelli J, Croy I
Institut für Neurophysiologie und zelluläre Biophysik, DFG-Forschungszentrum Mikroskopie im Nanometerbereich und Molekularphysiologie des Gehirns (CNMPB), Universität Göttingen, Humboldtallee 23, 37073, Göttingen, Deutschland,
HNO. 2014 Dec;62(12):846-52. doi: 10.1007/s00106-014-2925-2.
The origins of the sense of smell lie in the perception of environmental molecules and go back to unicellular organisms such as bacteria. Odors transmit a multitude of information about the chemical composition of our environment. The sense of smell helps people and animals with orientation in space, warns of potential threats, influences the choice of sexual partners, regulates food intake and influences feelings and social behavior in general. The perception of odors begins in sensory neurons residing in the olfactory epithelium that express G protein-coupled receptors, the so-called olfactory receptors. The binding of odor molecules to olfactory receptors initiates a signal transduction cascade that converts olfactory stimuli into electrical signals. These signals are then transmitted to the olfactory bulb, the first relay center in the olfactory pathway, via the axons of the sensory neurons. The olfactory information is processed in the bulb and then transferred to higher olfactory centers via axons of mitral cells, the bulbar projection neurons. This review describes the mechanisms involved in peripheral detection of odorants, outlines the further processing of olfactory information in higher olfactory centers and finally gives an overview of the overall significance of the ability to smell.
嗅觉的起源在于对环境分子的感知，可以追溯到单细胞生物，如细菌。气味传递了关于我们环境化学成分的大量信息。嗅觉帮助人类和动物在空间中定位，警告潜在威胁，影响性伴侣的选择，调节食物摄入，并总体上影响情感和社会行为。气味的感知始于位于嗅觉上皮中的感觉神经元，这些神经元表达G蛋白偶联受体，即所谓的嗅觉受体。气味分子与嗅觉受体的结合启动了信号转导级联反应，将嗅觉刺激转化为电信号。然后，这些信号通过感觉神经元的轴突传递到嗅球，这是嗅觉通路中的第一个中继中心。嗅觉信息在嗅球中进行处理，然后通过球部投射神经元——二尖瓣细胞的轴突传递到更高的嗅觉中枢。这篇综述描述了气味剂外周检测所涉及的机制，概述了嗅觉信息在更高嗅觉中枢的进一步处理，最后对嗅觉能力的整体重要性进行了概述。
