*

- *
Smell is the least understood of our senses.

- This results partly from the fact that the sense of smell is
a subjective phenomenon that cannot be studied with
ease in lower animals.

- Another complicating problem is that the sense of smell

is poorly developed in human beings (Microsmatic) in
comparison with the sense of smell in many lower
animals (Macrosmatic).

- Important for pleasure and for enjoying the taste of

food.

- alert us to potential dangers, e.g. smoke

 *
- lies in the superior part of each nostril

- In each nostril, the olfactory membrane has a

surface area of about 2.4 square centimeters

- Olfactory Cells - The receptor cells for the smell

sensation - bipolar nerve cells derived originally
from the CNS

- about 100 million of these cells in the olfactory

epithelium interspersed among sustentacular
cells
- *
The mucosal end of the olfactory cell forms a knob
from which 4 to 25 olfactory hairs (also called
olfactory cilia), project into the mucus that coats
the inner surface of the nasal cavity

- cilia react to odors in the air and stimulate the

olfactory cells

- Spaced among the olfactory cells -

glands Bowman’s
that secrete mucus onto the surface of
the olfactory membrane.

- Olfactory cells are constantlybeing replaced

with a half-time of a few weeks
 *
- The portion of each olfactory cell that
responds to the olfactory chemical stimuli is the
olfactory cilia.
- The odorant substance, on coming in contact with the
olfactory membrane surface, first diffuses into the
mucus that covers the cilia.

- Then it binds with receptor proteins in the

membrane
of each cilium - OBP

- Receptor protein – G protein – cAMP pathway – opening

of Na channels – action potential – exciting the olfactory
neuron - olfactory nerve – CNS
 *
- Only volatile substances that can be

- sniffed into
Substance mustthebenostrils
at leastcan be smelled
slightly water soluble
so that it can pass through the mucus to reach the
olfactory cilia.

- substance to be at least slightly lipid soluble,

presumably because lipid constituents of the cilium
itself are a weak barrier to non-lipid-soluble
odorants.

- Sniffing is a semi-reflex response that usually

occurs when a new odor attracts attention.
 *
- The olfactory receptors adapt about 50
per cent in the first second or so after
stimulation.

- Thereafter, they adapt very little

very slowly. and

- our own experience that smell sensations

adapt almost to extinction within a
minute or so after entering a strongly
odorous atmosphere.
 *
- Because this psychological adaptation is far
greater than the degree of adaptation of the
receptors themselves

- most of the additional adaptation occurs

within the CNS

- Large numbers of nerve fibers pass from the

olfactory regions of the brain backward
the olfactory tract and terminate on special
along
inhibitory cells in the olfactory bulb, the
-
*
1. Camphoraceous
- 2. Musky
- 3. Floral
- 4. Pepperminty
- 5. Ethereal
- 6. Pungent
- 7. Putrid

- 100 primary sensations of smell

 *
- affective qualityof either pleasantnessor
unpleasantness.

- smell is probably even more important

than taste for the selection of food.

- a person who has previously eaten food

that disagreed with him or her is often
nauseated by the smell of that same food
on a second occasion.
 *
- the minute quantity of stimulating agent
in the air can elicit a smell sensation.

- the su bstance methylmercaptan can be

smelled when only one 25 trillionth of a gram is
present in each milliliter of air.

- Because of this very low threshold, this

substance is mixed with natural gas to give the
gas an odor that can be detected when even
small amounts of gas leak from a cylinder.
- *
Olfactory bulb - olfactory tract – olfactory nerve – 1 s t
cranial nerve

- both the tract and the bulb are an anterior outgrowth

of brain tissue from the base of the brain

- olfactory bulb lies over the cribriform plate, separating

the brain cavity from the upper nasal cavity

- The cribriform plate has multiple small perforations

through which an equal number of small nerves pass
upward from the olfactory membrane in the nasal
cavity to enter the olfactory bulb in the cranial cavity
- short
*
axons from the olfactory cells terminating in
multiple
globular structures within the olfactory bulb called glomeruli

- Each glomerulus is the terminus for dendrites from about 25

large mitral cells and about 60 smaller tufted cells, the cell
bodies of which lie in the olfactory bulb superior to the
glomeruli – granule cells - Periglomerular cells

- mitral and tufted cells send axons through the

olfactory
tract to transmit olfactory signals to higher levels in the CNS

- Mucus – cilia - Axons of olfactory cells – glomeruli in bulb –

dendrites of mitral, tufted cells in bulb – axons of mitral,
tufted cells in tract - CNS
- *
In rodents and various other mammals, the nasal
cavity contains another patch of olfactory mucous
membrane located along the nasal septum in a well-
developed vomeronasal organ.

- This structure is concerned with the perception of

odors that act as pheromones.

- Its receptors project to the accessory olfactory

bulb and from there primarily to areas in the
amygdala and hypothalamus that are concerned
with reproduction

- The organ is not well developed in humans.

- Evidence* the existence of pheromones in
for
humans ???

- close relationship between smell and sexual

function - The perfume ads

- The sense of smell is said to be more acute in

women than in men, and in women it is most
acute at the time of ovulation.

- Smell and, to a lesser extent, taste have a

unique ability to trigger long-term memories
Species variability
There is large species variability in the ability of
animal to detect odour.
An animal which is very sensitive to odour such
as dog is called. Likewise an animal which is
comparatively less macrosomatic animalsensitive
like swine and some species of birds is called
microsomatic.
An animal which totally lacks the ability to smell
due to improper development of olfactory
apparatus is called ansomatic like sea mammals
dolphin whale etc.
The odour of some feed has been reported to be more
appealing.
Thus food intake of the animal can be increased with
inclusion of such type feed along with other
constituents.

The odour of urine, vaginal secretion etc, plays a role

in the reproductive behavior of number of animals.

Apart from this mother recognition of young in case of

goat, sheep and horses probably depends on odour.
- *
Pain Fibers in the Nose - Naked endings of many trigeminal
pain fibers are found in the olfactory mucous membrane -
stimulated by irritating substances

- peppermint, menthol and chlorine - sneezing, lacrimation,

respiratory inhibition

- anosmia (absence of the sense of smell), hyposmia

(diminished olfactory sensitivity), and dysosmia (distorted
sense of smell).

- Olfactory thresholds increase with advancing age, and

more than 75 % of humans over the age of 80 have
an
impaired ability to identify smells.

- Anosmia + Hypogonadism (Kallmann's syndrome)