Gelperin A
Biological Computation Research Department, AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey 07974.
Nature. 1994 May 5;369(6475):61-3. doi: 10.1038/369061a0.
The interneuronal messenger nitric oxide (NO) may play a central role in the processing of olfactory information. Several circuit elements in the mammalian olfactory bulb contain NO synthase or its functional equivalent, NADPH diaphorase. The effects of NO on cellular excitability or circuit dynamics in the olfactory bulb are unknown, although NO effects on other rhythmic cells and circuits have been described. I have studied the role of NO in central olfactory processing using the procerebral (PC) lobe, the major central site of odour processing in terrestrial molluscs. As in the mammalian olfactory bulb during odour stimulation, the basic dynamics of electrical activity in the molluscan PC lobe is an oscillation. Here I report an obligatory role for NO in the oscillatory dynamics of the PC lobe of Limax maximus. Nitric oxide mediation of the olfactory oscillation may relate to the highly developed odour sensitivity and odour-learning ability of Limax.
神经元间信使一氧化氮（NO）可能在嗅觉信息处理过程中发挥核心作用。哺乳动物嗅球中的几个神经回路元件含有一氧化氮合酶或其功能等效物——还原型辅酶Ⅱ黄递酶。尽管已经描述了NO对其他节律性细胞和神经回路的影响，但NO对嗅球中细胞兴奋性或神经回路动力学的影响尚不清楚。我利用前脑叶（PC叶）研究了NO在中枢嗅觉处理中的作用，前脑叶是陆生软体动物气味处理的主要中枢部位。与气味刺激时哺乳动物的嗅球一样，软体动物PC叶中电活动的基本动态是一种振荡。在此我报告，NO在大蛞蝓PC叶的振荡动力学中起必不可少的作用。嗅觉振荡的一氧化氮介导可能与大蛞蝓高度发达的气味敏感性和气味学习能力有关。
