Fuqiang Zhao1, Xiaohai Wang2, Hatim A Zariwala2, Jason M. Uslaner2, Andrea K Houghton2, Jeffrey L Evelhoch1, Eric Hostetler1, and Catherine Diane Gard Hines1
1Imaging, Merck Co. & Inc., West Point, PA, United States, 2Neuroscience, Merck Co. & Inc., West Point, PA, United States
fMRI
offers an excellent opportunity to study olfactory processing in different
olfactory structures. Measurement of the magnitude of odor stimulation-induced
activations, and their suppression with agonist/antagonist of different neural
receptors can provide important information to understand the mechanism of
olfactory habituation. In this study, cerebral blood volume (CBV) fMRI with
USPIO was used to measure odorant-induced olfaction in different olfactory structures
of rats. The dynamics of habituation in different olfactory structures can be
robustly measured by fMRI. MK801 can reverse habituated olfactory responses in
all olfactory structures, suggesting that glutamate/NMDA receptor plays a major
role in olfactory habituation.
