Given sufficient stimuli, the membrane-bound receptor generates a signal that travels down its axon, communicating with the neurons in the olfactory bulb. Insert figure 2 here. The primary neurons send their axons through the olfactory nerve layer where they terminate in the glomerular layer. In this region, these axons terminate and communicate with the dendrites of neurons in the mitral cell layer. Two types of cells in the mitral cell layer process and send information.
Mitral cells are large neurons with thick dendrites extending into the glomerular layer.
These neurons send their axons to the higher brain. This area also contains numerous neurons called ruffed cells. This population of neurons constitutes the origin of the secondary olfactory tract, communicating to various regions in the telencephalon and diencephalon. Granule cells reside in the central aspect of the olfactory bulb, the internal cell layer. These cells were thought to serve exclusively as interneurons, forming dendro-dendritic synapse with mitral and ruffed neurons.