Modelling the early steps of transduction in insect olfactory receptor neurons

Biosystems. 2007 May-Jun;89(1-3):101-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2006.05.015. Epub 2006 Nov 12.

Abstract

Olfactory transduction is a multistep process whose basic function is to convert a low energy reaction, the odorant-receptor interaction that may involve a single odorant molecule, into a whole cell electrical response, the receptor potential, which triggers the firing of one or more action potentials. Although much effort has been devoted to the experimental analysis of transduction in olfactory receptor neurons (ORNS), especially in the favorable moth sex-pheromone receptor neuron, its modelling is less advanced. The model we investigated, which takes into account the translocation of pheromone molecules from air to the extracellular space, their deactivation and their interaction with receptors, focuses on the membrane cascade. It involves the interaction of receptors, G-proteins and effector enzymes, whose reaction rates are limited by lateral diffusion in the membrane. The evolutions in time of these species in response to single pulse stimulation of various intensities were compared to one another and to the experimentally measured electrical response. The results obtained suggest that the receptor-to-effector conversion is fast with respect to the receptor response, that it presents a small amplification factor, contrary to the photoreceptor, and that most of the amplification is achieved in the post-effector processes involving the second messenger and ionic channels.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Models, Neurological
  • Moths / physiology*
  • Olfactory Receptor Neurons / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction*