Investigations of the discriminative properties of the frog's olfactory mucosa using a photoactivable odorant.

ABSTRACT

The photoactivable compound phenylazide interacts reversibly with the frog's olfactory epithelium when delivered as an olfactory stimulus. Its application together with UV irradiation resulted in a differential reduction of the responses (electro-olfactogram) to several odorants. It was found that this chemical modification of the sensory membrane affected the responses in relative ratios which could be predicted from a classification of the odorants based upon independent studies of receptor cell odor sensitivity. The responses to chemicals representative of the 'aromatic group' were clearly more reduced than those to compounds of the 'camphoraceous group'. It is suggested that the olfactory discrimination mechanisms can be approached by the use of this method.