The flexible olfactory brain

Orateur : Pierre-Marie LLEDO (Laboratoire Perception et Mémoire, Institut Pasteur)

The olfactory brain is flexible, from cognitive areas all the way down to the peripheral areas in which sensory information is encoded so as to facilitate the subsequent extraction of relevant information. It is becoming increasingly clear that olfactory adaptability operates at the level of neural circuits. In the adult olfactory bulb circuit, new neurons are constitutively recruited throughout life and form an integral part of the normal functional network. This presentation focuses on the functional issues linked to the neurogenic plasticity of olfaction. After outlining the processes of adult neurogenesis in the olfactory system and discussing their regulation by various factors, I will explore the possible functional role of newly-formed neurons in the host olfactory circuits. I will extract clues regarding the contribution of adult-born neurons to the different circuits of the olfactory bulb and specifically how new neurons participate in existing computations and enable new computational functions. Concentrating exclusively on mammalian systems, I will demonstrate throughout this presentation that adult neurogenesis is a plastic mechanism by which several olfactory bulb performance can be optimized.

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