Abstract.
When odorants bind to the sensory cilia of olfactory sensory neurons, the cells respond with an electrical output signal, typically a short train of action potentials. This review describes the present state of knowledge about the olfactory signal transduction process. In the last decade, a set of transduction molecules has been identified which help to explain many aspects of the sensory response. Odor-induced second-messenger production, activation of transduction channels, the central role of the ciliary Ca2+ concentration, as well as mechanisms that mediate adaptation, are all qualitatively understood on the basis of a consistent scheme for chemoelectrical transduction. This scheme, although necessarily incomplete, can serve as a working model for further experimentation which may reveal kinetical aspects of signal transduction processes in olfactory sensory neurons.
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Frings, S. Chemoelectrical signal transduction in olfactory sensory neurons of air-breathing vertebrates. CMLS, Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 58, 510–519 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00000876
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00000876