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Review
. 2007 Jul;8(7):629-33.
doi: 10.1038/sj.embor.7401029.

The scent of life. The exquisite complexity of the sense of smell in animals and humans

Andrea Rinaldi
Review

The scent of life. The exquisite complexity of the sense of smell in animals and humans

Andrea Rinaldi. EMBO Rep. 2007 Jul.
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The human olfactory system. The odorant receptors are localized on olfactory sensory neurons, which occupy a small area in the upper part of the nasal epithelium. Every olfactory receptor cell expresses only one odorant receptor. On activation, signals from olfactory receptor cells are relayed in the glomeruli—well defined micro-regions in the olfactory bulb. Receptor cells of the same type are randomly distributed in the nasal mucosa but converge on the same glomerulus. In the glomerulus, the receptor nerve endings excite mitral cells that forward the signal to higher regions of the brain. Credit: Karolinska Institutet and Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, Sweden.
Figure 2
Figure 2
CO2-sensitive neurons expressing Gr21a (green) and Gr63a (red), proteins that together are necessary for CO2 detection in Drosophila. The neurons target a specific region of the fly brain, which is dedicated to processing the smell of CO2. Credit: Vosshall Laboratory, Rockefeller University. Reprinted with permission from Macmillian Publishers Ltd [Nature, Jones et al, 2007].
Figure 3
Figure 3
Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) on lake trout (top) and detail of the oral disc (bottom). Sea lampreys are found in the Great Lakes region and injure lake trout and many other fishes, from which they suck out the body fluids by using teeth and a grasping tongue. Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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