Date of Award

2014

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.Sc.

Department

Biological Sciences

Keywords

Biological sciences

Supervisor

Zielinski, Barbara S.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

Serotonergic (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) fibers are distributed throughout the olfactory nerve and olfactory bulb of the sea lamprey. This study tested for 5-HT modulation of olfactory sensory responses to pheromone, amino acid and bile acid odours in the dorsal and lateral regions of the olfactory bulb by recording local field potentials. The peak amplitude of dorsal and lateral olfactory bulb responses to amino acid odours declined during 5-HT bath-application. The peak amplitude of responses to all odours increased during pharmacological blockade of the 5-HT1a receptor, but was not affected when 5-HT was added to the 5-HT1a antagonist, spiperone. The 5-HT1a antagonist, s(-)-uh-301, lengthened responses and had a larger number of peaks to all odours and spiperone lengthened responses and had a larger number of peaks to amino acids. We conclude that 5-HT attenuates odour responses in olfactory bulb via the 5HT1a receptor and suggest that 5-HT may also modulate olfactory-mediated behaviours.

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