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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience pp 1–5Cite as

Olfactory Computation and Adult Neurogenesis

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Definition

The initial processing of olfactory information (“olfactory computation”) by the brain is performed in the olfactory bulb. Strikingly, even in adult animals the largest population of neurons in this network is undergoing persistent turnover through neurogenesis and apoptosis, i.e., through the addition of new neurons and the subsequent death of a large fraction of them. This endows the network with computational power that yet has to be fully explored.

Detailed Description

Anatomy of the Olfactory Bulb

Olfactory processing begins with millions of olfactory receptor neurons (ORN) in the nasal epithelium. Each ORN expresses exactly one receptor gene, which determines the ORN’s sensitivity spectrum across all odorants. The number of different active receptor genes ranges from 50 in drosophila and 350 in humans to over 1,000 in mice and rats (Murthy 2011). All ORNs expressing a given receptor gene project to a small number of glomeruli in the outermost layer of the olfactory...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics, Northwestern University, Evanston, 60208, IL, USA

    Hermann Riecke

Authors
  1. Hermann Riecke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hermann Riecke .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Riecke, H. (2013). Olfactory Computation and Adult Neurogenesis. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_611-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_611-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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