Hatt H
Department of Cell Physiology, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
ORL J Otorhinolaryngol Relat Spec. 1996 Jul-Aug;58(4):183-94. doi: 10.1159/000276834.
In humans the sense of smell plays an important role in protecting the organism from external hazards like fire, gas or spoiled food, in the consumption of food and in chemical communication with one another. Increasingly, the study of human olfaction is relevant to a number of medical problems connected with olfactory dysfunction, i.e. neurodegenerative diseases which are also manifested in the olfactory epithelium. Although much is known about behavioral aspects and neuronal activities elicited by odorants, we still cannot clearly describe the molecular mechanisms by which odor stimuli are transformed into an electrical cell signal. Here recent progress in our knowledge about the molecular elements of the transduction machinery are reviewed. It can help to understand the general principles underlying our sense of smell.
在人类中，嗅觉在保护机体免受火灾、气体或变质食物等外部危害、食物摄取以及相互之间的化学交流方面发挥着重要作用。人类嗅觉的研究越来越多地与一些与嗅觉功能障碍相关的医学问题相关，即那些也表现在嗅上皮中的神经退行性疾病。尽管我们对气味剂引发的行为方面和神经元活动了解很多，但我们仍然无法清楚地描述气味刺激转化为细胞电信号的分子机制。在此，我们综述了关于转导机制分子元件的最新知识进展。这有助于理解我们嗅觉背后的一般原理。
