The analysis of response similarity in single neurons of the goldfish olfactory bulb using amino-acids as odor stimuli

Abstract

The response of goldfish olfactory bulb neurons to a range of amino acid olfactory stimuli was recorded. The results show that comparisons of response patterns at a single concentration are inadequate to describe the similarity of response of the system to pairs of substances because response patterns changed with concentration. For some pairs of stimuli, the similarity between response patterns was consistent at different concentrations despite the changes seen in the responses themselves. In these cases the similarity of response appeared to reflect the degree of similarity in chemical structure of the stimuli. Preliminary evidence is presented that differences in response to different amino acids are not simply due to differences in stimulatory effectiveness for a single receptor process.