Significance of sniffing pattern during the acquisition of an olfactory discrimination task

Lefèvre, Laura; Courtiol, Emmanuelle; Garcia, Samuel; Thévenet, M; Messaoudi, Belkacem; Buonviso, Nathalie

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2016.06.039

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…This outcome is consistent with a need to sample odors longer during the reversal learning to maintain optimal performance accuracy (as the same level as the other groups), and this extended sampling is no longer needed when they are expert in the task, when the task becomes easy. In behaving rats performing a two-alternative odor discrimination task, the rats usually sniff around 6-8Hz (sniff cycles: 125-166ms) during the odor sampling period Lefevre et al 2016;Kepecs et al 2007). The increase of sampling duration observed here is sufficient to allow the rat to add another sniff.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sampling Duration and Performance: Speementioning

confidence: 81%

“…At the opposite, keeping short discrimination times can lead to a drop in performance in difficult odor discrimination (Uchida and Mainen 2003). Sampling durations can also vary during the acquisition of the two alternative odor discrimination task and are longer in 'good' vs. 'poor learners' (Lefevre et al 2016;Lovitz et al 2012). Sampling duration, response accuracy and difficulty of the tasks are thus intermingled.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sampling Duration and Performance: Speementioning

confidence: 99%

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A specific olfactory cortico-thalamic pathway contributing to sampling performance during odor reversal learning

et al. 2018

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A growing body of evidence shows that olfactory information is processed within a thalamic nucleus in both rodents and humans. The mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MDT) receives projections from olfactory cortical areas including the piriform cortex (PCX) and is interconnected with the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Using electrophysiology in freely moving rats, we recently demonstrated the representation of olfactory information in the MDT and the dynamics of functional connectivity between the PCX, MDT and OFC. Notably, PCX-MDT coupling is specifically increased during odor sampling of an odor discrimination task. However, whether this increase of coupling is functionally relevant is unknown. To decipher the importance of PCX-MDT coupling during the sampling period, we used optogenetics to specifically inactivate the PCX inputs to MDT during an odor discrimination task and its reversal in rats. We demonstrate that inactivating the PCX inputs to MDT does not affect the performance accuracy of an odor discrimination task and its reversal, however it does impact the rats' sampling duration. Indeed, rats in which PCX inputs to MDT were inactivated during the sampling period display longer sampling duration during the odor reversal learning compared to controls-an effect not observed when inactivating OFC inputs to MDT. We demonstrate a causal link between the PCX inputs to MDT and the odor sampling performance, highlighting the importance of this specific corticothalamic pathway in olfaction.

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Section: Relationship Between Sampling Duration and Performance: Speementioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Relationship Between Sampling Duration and Performance: Speementioning

confidence: 99%

A specific olfactory cortico-thalamic pathway contributing to sampling performance during odor reversal learning

et al. 2018

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“…Respiratory activity was recorded by using whole-body plethysmography. Plethysmograph (EMKA Technologies, France) was previously described in detail 50,51 .…”

Section: Lfp and Respiration Recordingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Respiratory signals were acquired and extracted using previously described method 51 allowing accurate measurements of different respiratory parameters in behaving animals. The detection of the respiratory cycles was achieved using an enhanced version of the algorithm described in a previous study 55 .…”

Section: Respiratory Signalmentioning

confidence: 99%

The deep and slow breathing characterizing rest favors brain respiratory-drive

Girin

Juventin

Garcia

et al. 2020

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A respiration-locked activity in the olfactory brain, mainly originating in the mechano-sensitivity of olfactory sensory neurons to air pressure, propagates from the olfactory bulb to the rest of the brain. Interestingly, changes in nasal airflow rate result in reorganization of olfactory bulb response. Therefore, if the respiratory drive of the brain originates in nasal airflow movements, then it should vary with respiration dynamics that occur spontaneously during natural conditions. We took advantage of the spontaneous variations of respiration dynamics during the different waking and sleep states to explore respiratory drive in various brain regions. We analyzed their local field potential activity relative to respiratory signal. We showed that respiration regime was state-specific, and that quiet waking was the only vigilance state during which all the recorded structures can be respiration-driven whatever the respiration frequency. We used a CO2-enriched air to change the respiratory regime associated to each state and, using a respiratory cycle-by-cycle analysis, we evidenced that the large and strong brain entrainment during quiet waking was the consequence of its associated respiration regime consisting in an optimal trade-off between deepness and duration of inspiration. These results show for the first time that changes in respiration regime alter the cortical dynamics and that the respiratory regime associated with rest is optimal for respiration to drive the brain.

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“…It is now clear that the dynamics of odor sampling during the first few sniffs taken by rodents during an odor identification task can provide enough information to allow odor identification and discrimination [1][2][3]. The importance of odor sampling by active sniffing for olfactory perception by humans and rodents has been known for more than three decades [4][5][6][7][8]. Active sniffing or odor sampling strategies also dramatically alter synaptic interactions in the olfactory bulb, the first central synaptic processing site for odor-elicited sensory input [9,10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of odor sampling strategies in mice

et al. 2020

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Mammalian olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal cavity are stimulated by odorants carried by the inhaled air and their activation is therefore tied to and driven by the breathing or sniffing frequency. Sniffing frequency can be deliberately modulated to alter how odorants stimulate olfactory receptor neurons, giving the animal control over the frequency of odorant exposure to potentially aid odorant detection and discrimination. We monitored sniffing behaviors and odorant discrimination ability of freely-moving mice while they sampled either decreasing concentrations of target odorants or sampled a fixed target odorant concentration in the presence of a background of increasing odorant concentrations, using a Go-NoGo behavioral paradigm. This allowed us to ask how mice alter their odorant sampling duration and sampling (sniffing) frequency depending on the demands of the task and its difficulty. Mice showed an anticipatory increase in sniffing rate prior to odorant exposure and chose to sample for longer durations when exposed to odorants as compared to the solvent control odorant. Similarly, mice also took more odorant sampling sniffs when exposed to target odorants compared to the solvent control odorant. In general, odorant sampling strategies became more similar the more difficult the task was, e.g. the lower the target odorant concentration or the lower the target odorant contrast relative to the background odorant, suggesting that sniffing patterns are not preset, but are dynamically modulated by the particular task and its difficulty.

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Significance of sniffing pattern during the acquisition of an olfactory discrimination task

Cited by 22 publications

References 59 publications

A specific olfactory cortico-thalamic pathway contributing to sampling performance during odor reversal learning

A specific olfactory cortico-thalamic pathway contributing to sampling performance during odor reversal learning

The deep and slow breathing characterizing rest favors brain respiratory-drive

Dynamics of odor sampling strategies in mice

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