Sweet and fatty components of mothers milk produces profound opiate receptor-dependent analgesic and calming effects in newborn rats and humans. The major goal of this research is to investigate how intraoral sucrose engages neural circuits that mediate opiate analgesia. Synaptic Integration and Information Processing in the Olfactory Bulb . Ongoing electrophysiological studies in my lab investigate how extrinsic and intrinsic neurotransmitter systems modulate information processing and output from the olfactory bulb circuit using both in vivo and in vitro preparations. The glomeruli thus form a map that mirrors receptor activity.
Different odors stimulate different patterns of glomerular activity.
The OB and PC comprise the major components of the neural network that decipher such patterns to arrive at the recognition of an odor. The goal of this research is to understand how glomerular activity is relayed to, and processed within PC using neuroanatomical and electrophysiological approaches. Computer-based image analysis. M.T. Norepinephrine increases rat mitral cell excitatory responses to weak olfactory nerve input via alpha-1 receptors in vitro. El-Etri, M.M., Griff, E.R., Ennis, M. and Shipley, M.T. Evidence for cholinergic regulation of basal norepinephrine in the rat olfactory bulb.