Odor maps in the olfactory bulb

Abstract

The olfactory bulb is the first relay station of the central olfactory system in the mammalian brain and contains a few thousand glomeruli on its surface. Individual glomeruli represent a single type of odorant receptor, and the glomerular sheet of the olfactory bulb forms odorant receptor maps. This chapter summarizes the spatial organization of the odorant receptor-representing glomerular maps of the rodent olfactory bulb, focusing on (1) the domain organization of each glomerular map, (2) "intrabulbar projections" of tufted cell axons that precisely and topographically connect the lateral and medial maps, (3) molecular feature clusters of glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, and (4) functional compartmentalization of the glomerular maps.