Odor-evoked inhibition in primary olfactory receptor neurons.

Odors can inhibit as well as excite lobster olfactory receptor cells. Inhibitory components of an odor mixture act within the normal, first 500 ms odor sampling interval of the animal to reduce the peak magnitude and increase the latency of the net excitatory receptor potential in a concentration-dependent manner. The intracellular effects are reflected in the propagated output of the cell. The results argue that inhibitory odor input is functional in olfaction by potentially serving to increase the diversity of the neuronal patterns that are thought to be the basis of odor discrimination.