Hao Jia1, Oleg Mykolajovych Pustovyy2, Paul Waggoner3, Ronald J. Beyers1, John Schumacher4, Jay Barrett5, Edward Morrison2, Robert L. Gillette4, Thomas S. Denney1
1AU MRI research center, Dept. of ECE, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States; 2Dept. of Anatomy, Physiology & Pharmacology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States; 3Canine Detection Research Institute, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States; 4Dept. of Clinical Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States; 5College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States; 6Dept. of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States
Canines are used extensively for detecting odors in both civilian and national security contexts, but their olfactory system remains largely unexplored in vivo. We developed and demonstrated the feasibility of an experimental setup for controlled delivery of odorant stimulus to both conscious and lightly anesthetized dogs. We found that in awake dogs, regions modulated by odor concentration were mainly in the frontal cortex, while that in anesthetized dogs were primarily in lower structures such as brain stem. The differential response to concentrations in awake and anesthetized dogs provide in vivo demonstration of previous ex vivo cellular recordings.