Olfactory bulb

The olfactory bulb is a forebrain structure that receives signals from olfactory sensory neurons and organizes them into neural patterns for further processing.

Olfactory sensory neuron: A sensory neuron in the nasal epithelium that detects odorants and sends axons to the olfactory bulb. These neurons provide the bulb’s incoming odor signals.
Olfactory epithelium: A sensory tissue in the nasal cavity containing olfactory sensory neurons and supporting cells. It houses the neurons whose axons enter the bulb.
Odor coding: The representation of odor identity and other odor features in patterns of neural activity. Bulb activity is an early neural representation of odor features.
Accessory olfactory bulb: A forebrain structure that processes input from the vomeronasal organ in species that possess this pathway. It is distinct from the main bulb and emphasizes specialized chemosensory signals.
Glomerulus (olfactory bulb): A spherical olfactory-bulb structure where sensory axons and projection-neuron dendrites converge. Odorant-receptor-specific inputs first converge in these structures.
Olfactory receptor: A protein on olfactory sensory neurons that binds odorant molecules and initiates a cellular response. Receptor identity helps determine which bulb glomeruli receive input.
Olfactory adaptation: A reduction in sensory response during continued or repeated exposure to an odor. Changes in bulb activity accompany adaptation to persistent odors.
Vomeronasal organ: A chemosensory organ found in many vertebrates that detects cues through a pathway separate from ordinary olfaction. Its sensory neurons typically project to the accessory rather than the main olfactory bulb.
Mitral cell: A principal projection neuron of the olfactory bulb that sends odor-related signals to higher brain regions. Mitral cells carry processed bulb output toward olfactory cortex.
Cribriform plate: A perforated part of the ethmoid bone through which olfactory nerve axons pass from the nasal cavity toward the brain. Olfactory axons cross this bony boundary before reaching the bulb.

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