Perireceptor Events and Transduction Mechanisms in Insect Olfaction

Abstract

The first Chap. of this book has described the morphological properties of insect antennal sense organs, the pheromone-sensitive as well as the general odour-sensitive sensilla. This Chap. follows the odour molecules as they pass through the pores in the cuticle of the antennal sensilla, and on their way through the aqueous sensillum lymph, until they reach the outer dendrites of the olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Here, the transduction cascade is initiated that finally causes changes in the membrane potential, and in the rate of action potentials that encode the biologically relevant properties of the olfactory stimuli.