Advances have been made in the study of neural loop mechanisms for odor preference formation

different living environments may lead to different odor preferences for each person, the researchers believe that the formation of odor preferences has important physiological and social significance, but the current academic community is not clear about its neural loop mechanism. Recently, xu Fuqiang research team of Wuhan Institute of The Chinese Academy of Sciences made progress in the study of the neural loop mechanism of odor preference formation, and the relevant papers were published online in
, a comprehensive authoritative journal in the field of life sciences.according to
, olfactory tubercle (OT) is located in the abdominal symposia of the brain, it directly receives information input from the olfactory ball and other olfactory cortical layers, but also from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons, which play an important role in regulating rewards and motivations. The special connection between olfactory nods and olfactory systems and reward systems gives them a structural basis that may involve odor preferences.
Researchers first used rabies virus RV retrograde tracking technology, observed that the inner OT (mOT) can directly accept the olfactory system neurons such as olfactory balls and the VTA dopamine energy neuron reward system input, and secondly, using fiber-optic calcium recording technology, observed that the neurons in the inner OT respond to a variety of odor stimuli, at the same time VTA-mOT dopamine-energy neuro-cast fibers respond to a variety of natural reward stimuli;
This study shows that VTA-mOT dopamine neuro-projection is involved in a range of natural reward processes, including eating and socializing, and plays an important role in the formation of odor preferences, which is expected to provide experimental basis for the prevention and treatment of addiction, partial eating and obesity.Zhang Zhijian, Ph.D. student at the
Brain Science Research Center, and Liu Qing, an assistant researcher, are co-authors of the research paper, xu Fuqiang is the author of the communication, and some of the experiments have been assisted by Professor Li Haohong of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wang Liping of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology's 973 Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Strategic Pilot Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Xu Fuqiang research team in the past few years, committed to the development and utilization of neurovirus tools, set up a series of neurological tools virus library, and with the living electrophysiological records, calcium ion signal detection, animal behavior, magnetic resonance imaging and other technical methods to integrate the formation of a system of neural network structure and functional research platform. (Source: Science Network Lu Wei Zhang Zhijian)