Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated Electrical Activity in Olfactory Receptor Cells.

摘要

There is evidence that the olfactory system depends on relatively specific chemoreceptors for its function. For example, a number of compounds that are closely related structurally often elicit very different odor qualities and odor thresholds in human psychophysical studies. Chen and Lancet (1984) have shown that olfactory epithelial cells. The presence of such membrane- and tubulin-associated proteins only in olfactory cilia is strongly suggestive of a functional role for this material (Pevsner et al., 1985). Recently, studies of cilia-enriched preparations from frog and rat olfactory neuropithelia have revealed a high activity of adenylate cyclase that is specifically enhanced by odorants. This important finding has effectively in homogenates of whole olfactory epithelium and also the modulation of the cyclase activity of the whole olfactory epithelium by the cyclic AMP analogues and phos phosphodiesterase inhibitors. Reprints. (kt)