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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 102/4/2121    most recent 91321.2008v2 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Lapid, H. Articles by Hummel, T. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lapid, H. Articles by Hummel, T.

RESEARCH-ARTICLE

Odorant Concentration Dependence in Electroolfactograms Recorded From the Human Olfactory Epithelium

¹Departments of Neurobiology and ²Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel; ³Smell and Taste Clinic, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany; and ⁴Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Edith Wolfson Medical Center, Tel-Aviv University Sackler School of Medicine, Holon, Israel

Submitted 15 December 2009; accepted in final form 5 July 2009

ABSTRACT

Electroolfactograms (EOGs) are the summated generator potentials of olfactory receptor neurons measured directly from the olfactory epithelium. To validate the sensory origin of the human EOG, we set out to ask whether EOGs measured in humans were odorant concentration dependent. Each of 22 subjects (12 women, mean age = 23.3 yr) was tested with two odorants, either valeric acid and linalool (n = 12) or isovaleric acid and L-carvone (n = 10), each delivered at four concentrations diluted with warm (37°C) and humidified (80%) odorless air. In behavior, increased odorant concentration was associated with increased perceived intensity (all F > 5, all P < 0.001). In EOG, increased odorant concentration was associated with increased area under the EOG curve (all F > 8, all P < 0.001). These findings substantiate EOG as a tool for probing olfactory coding directly at the level of olfactory receptor neurons in humans.