Steady-State Properties of Coding of Odor Intensity in Olfactory Sensory Neurons

摘要

Several models for coding of odor intensity in olfactory sensory neurons are investigated. Behavior of the systems is described by stochastic processes of binding (and activation). Characteristics how well the odorant concentration can be estimated from the knowledge of response, the concentration of bounded (activated) neuron receptors, are studied. This approach is based on the Fisher information and analogous measures. These measures are computed and applied to locate the coding range, levels of the odorant concentration which are most suitable for estimation. Results are compared with the classical (deterministic) approach to determine the coding range via steepness of the input-output transfer function.