Copyright ©Mark Nelson, 2002. All rights reserved.
Chapter 13: Chemical Senses
What you need to know
(exam questions will be a drawn from this subset of material)
What are three broad categories of chemical senses? Why are they considered
separate senses? (p. 309-310)
Where do vertebrate gustatory receptors project in the CNS? (p. 310-311)
Where do vertebrate olfactory receptors project in the CNS? (p. 311-312)
What is unique abou the pathway from olfactory recepetors to the telencephalon?
(p. 311-312)
Whats similar about the microenvironment around gustatory and olfactory
receptors? (p.312-314)
What is the "typical" way that chemoreceptors transduce chemical stimuli?
(p. 312-321)
What special mechanisms are involved in transduction of sour (acidic) tastes?
(p. 317, Fig. 13-5A)
What special mechanisms are involved in transduction of salty tastes? (p. 317, Fig. 13-5B)
What type of sensory coding is used in the gustatory system? (p. 321-322)
What type of sensory coding is used in the olfactory system? (p. 322-324)
How many kinds of vertebrate olfactory receptor proteins are there? How
many kinds does a single receptor express (p. 322-324)
How do signals get from the vertebrate olfactory receptors to the brain?
(p. 324-325; Fig. 13-10)
What are olfactory glomeruli? (p. 325-326)
Where are you likely to find insect chemoreceptors? (p. 326-327)
What's similar about olfactory receptors of insects and vertebrates? (p.326-328)
What's similar about the initial stages of olfactory processing in the CNS
of insects and vertebrates? (p.329-332)