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Sensory systems

Sniffing out neural processing

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 7, page 8 (2006)Cite this article

AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid) receptors (AMPARs) are crucial for learning and memory. At the neuronal level, both odour discrimination and olfactory memory depend on fast excitatory neurotransmission mediated by these receptors. Shimshek and co-workers investigated the involvement of the principal AMPAR subunit, GluRB (GluR2), in these processes by depleting it or expressing a mutant form in mice. Both groups of mice showed specific increases in olfactory discrimination, but, surprisingly, a strong impairment in olfactory memory.

The Ca2+ permeability of AMPARs was increased both in mice with reduced normal GluRB subunit expression and in those expressing the mutant form, and the authors propose that this might account for their enhanced olfactory discrimination. The enhancement itself, they suggest, is the result of some alteration in olfactory information processing, not odour detection, because due to the spatial restriction of the genetic modification, GluRB subunit expression was not altered in the olfactory epithelium.

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Shimshek, D. R. et al. Enhanced odor discrimination and impaired olfactory memory by spatially controlled switch of AMPA receptors. PLoS Biol. 3, e354 (2005)

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Authors
  1. Sarah Archibald
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Archibald, S. Sniffing out neural processing. Nat Rev Neurosci 7, 8 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1841

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1841

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