Plasticity and Regeneration in the Olfactory System

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Sensory and Motor Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2024 | Viewed by 1553

Special Issue Editor

Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Interests: olfactory sensory neurons; olfactory bulb; circuit development, plasticity and regeneration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is important for the survival of all animals, and its relevance in humans is often underestimated. The olfactory system detects odorants in the environment and processes that information to enable organisms to respond appropriately. There are many conserved principles of olfactory system organization and function across species ranging from nematode worms to humans. A key feature of the olfactory system of many species is that it can support a high level of plasticity, spanning the synaptic, cellular and circuit levels, even in adults. Across many species, the olfactory system also exhibits a substantial regenerative capacity, with postnatal neurogenesis playing an important role in some organisms. This Special Issue will explore the mechanisms by which olfactory plasticity enables rapid learning and adaptation to altered sensory experience without disrupting existing circuit function. It will also provide insight into the roles of postnatal neurogenesis in the healthy olfactory system and the extent to which regenerative processes can restore olfactory function following damage. The Special Issue will bring together studies from multiple species to highlight both common principles and species-specific mechanisms that enable the olfactory system to adapt to changes in activity and experience and to repair damaged circuits, even in adult organisms.

Dr. Claire E. Cheetham
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • olfactory
  • plasticity
  • regeneration
  • neurogenesis

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Review

28 pages, 2006 KiB  
Review
The Role of the Stimulus in Olfactory Plasticity
by David M. Coppola and Johannes Reisert
Brain Sci. 2023, 13(11), 1553; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13111553 - 06 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1029
Abstract
Plasticity, the term we use to describe the ability of a nervous system to change with experience, is the evolutionary adaptation that freed animal behavior from the confines of genetic determinism. This capacity, which increases with brain complexity, is nowhere more evident than [...] Read more.
Plasticity, the term we use to describe the ability of a nervous system to change with experience, is the evolutionary adaptation that freed animal behavior from the confines of genetic determinism. This capacity, which increases with brain complexity, is nowhere more evident than in vertebrates, especially mammals. Though the scientific study of brain plasticity dates back at least to the mid-19th century, the last several decades have seen unprecedented advances in the field afforded by new technologies. Olfaction is one system that has garnered particular attention in this realm because it is the only sensory modality with a lifelong supply of new neurons, from two niches no less! Here, we review some of the classical and contemporary literature dealing with the role of the stimulus or lack thereof in olfactory plasticity. We have restricted our comments to studies in mammals that have used dual tools of the field: stimulus deprivation and stimulus enrichment. The former manipulation has been implemented most frequently by unilateral naris occlusion and, thus, we have limited our comments to research using this technique. The work reviewed on deprivation provides substantial evidence of activity-dependent processes in both developing and adult mammals at multiple levels of the system from olfactory sensory neurons through to olfactory cortical areas. However, more recent evidence on the effects of deprivation also establishes several compensatory processes with mechanisms at every level of the system, whose function seems to be the restoration of information flow in the face of an impoverished signal. The results of sensory enrichment are more tentative, not least because of the actual manipulation: What odor or odors? At what concentrations? On what schedule? All of these have frequently not been sufficiently rationalized or characterized. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that discrepant results are common in sensory enrichment studies. Despite this problem, evidence has accumulated that even passively encountered odors can “teach” olfactory cortical areas to better detect, discriminate, and more efficiently encode them for future encounters. We discuss these and other less-established roles for the stimulus in olfactory plasticity, culminating in our recommended “aspirations” for the field going forward. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plasticity and Regeneration in the Olfactory System)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop