Tweet
A Brief Introduction To Your Olfactory System
Related keywords: Olfactory System, Nose, Nasal, Smelling, Olfaction, Nasal Conchae, Olfactory Vesicles, Olfactory Bulb, Olfactory Cortex, Olfactory Tract, Olfactory Receptor Cells, Olfactory Epithelium, Basal Cells, Olfactory Cells, Supporting Cells, Brush Cells, Bowmans Glands, Glomerular Layer, Amygdala, Neocortext, Hippocampus, Locus Coeruleus, and Substantia Nigrain
Our sense of smell (Olfactory System) and how we live with it will either have us smiling with delight as the smell of fresh baked cookies wafts through the house or gagging, taking short breaths as we struggle to get fresh air from the smell of an unkempt, overused portable chemical toilet. Its typically our first “connection” to others in our social bubbles that surround us. We can smell them coming a mile away is the age old adage, but how true does this hold up?
If we were really to put it to the test over all of our other senses, our olfactory senses would more than likely come up as our primary “first sense.” You cannot see someone in the dark, but with the right perfume or lack of therewith we can sure smell them. We would definitely be able to smell someones odor before we were to feel their touch. A silent person might not be detected, but without a shower you’d be sure to discover them. Taste? If you were Doctor Lecter before you “have an old friend for dinner” you’d be sure to spice them appropriately before serving them with some fava beans. It stands to reason then that our sense of smell, while seemingly the one we most take for granted, is also the one we depend on first.
The olfactory system, the favored sensory modality of scientific experimentation, has been studied more than any other in the history of man. With each new study it has been determined that the human olfaction system is actually less developed than most other mammals. Perhaps it is an overload of sensory stimuli that is introduced to us. As our world of material goods increases, thus ultimately shrinking our physical world, we reassign the order of significance to sensory modalities such as sight over smell. The juxtaposition of this theory can be tested with fresh bread just out of the oven in dark silent room. While it is obvious our sense of smell would therefore be the pronounced sensory modality in this instance, it does not answer the question of development of an organ as compared to a rodent in clinical tests.
I am of the opinion that more research needs to be conducted to answer the many questions that still persist. Undoubtedly, just as the Standard Model of particle physics does, the answers we uncover will lead to more questions. It is my hope, dream and passion to uncover the secrets our sense of smell still holds for us. With community input, guidance and research I believe we can expose the truth of what we as a community already understand, and science is slowly albeit reluctantly coming around to, that pheromones are an integral part of human chemical communication.
The olfactory system operates as a chemical sensor that identifies odors from food, environment and other humans directly influencing our social and sexual response. Working as a transcellular transport the remarkable epithelial cells, specialized for the olfactory system, selectively absorb and detect the sensation of odor. They are the only group of neurons that are capable of regeneration. The epithelial cells are initiated as if a switch was turned on a fan pushing odor molecules through the nasal cavity directly to them. When you encounter an odor the molecules, such as pheromones, interact with olfactory vesicles signaling a chemical reaction. The Oder molecules are then guided through the nasal cavity by the nasal conchae to the olfactory epithelium.
The olfactory epithelium is directly responsible for the detection of odors and is only about 3 centimeters wide. The olfactory epithelium is home to 4 distinct cell types consisting of millions upon millions of cells. The 4 distinct cell types are: olfactory, supporting, basal and brush. The Bowman’s glands are also located in the olfactory epithelium which serves to trap and dissolve odors thus constantly renewing or washing away odors.
Basal cells, which are stem cells, are constantly being renewed which create more olfactory receptor cells. This is a process that only occurs in the olfactory system. While odd, the constantly renewed neurons supplied to the system are actually bipolar and form into a group to create the olfactory nerve. The remarkable human olfactory system, because of the incredible resupply of neurons reforms a new olfactory epithelium once every few weeks.
In many humans the vomeronasal organ VNO, which many scientific articles still profess to be the olfactory detection organ for pheromones, is either not present or if it is, a functional organ. I believe we have evolved as a species, with a little help, and thus this organ would no longer serve a purpose.
The olfactory bulb in humans sits on the bottom side of the brain. It is divided into two parts: the main olfactory bulb and the accessory olfactory bulb. Acting as a neural circuit the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb receives information directly from the olfactory epithelium area and thus begins the synaptic processing of the information to “filter” out background odors while distinction of more prominent odors are distributed to higher function areas of the brain such as the amygdala, neocortext, hippocampus, locus coeruleus, and substantia nigrain. However the olfactory bulb also is on the receiving end of information from these higher function areas.There is still much research to be done on many of the filtering functions of the olfactory bulb.
We do know that learned behavior and our responses take place when the odor information is passed between the olfactory bulb and the amygdala. Odors are codified in the amygdala and remembered just as reactions to pleasant or unpleasant experiences. A pleasant odor will invoke a particular emotional response just as an unpleasant odor will invoke a typically negative response. The odors as coded neurons act as keys to unlock doorways of emotional and physiological states. By passing through the olfactory system to the amygdala, the pheromone odors we use, cue an emotional response from those exposed to our silage.
Through knowledge and research we provide our community the tools to develop pheromone technologies thus enabling the road to further the research. A community that openly shares in acquiring and dissemination of information will grow stronger and create opportunity for expansion. Let us expose to truth all those who withhold for the sake of commercialization that which should be shared.
Our sense of smell (Olfactory System) and how we live with it will either have us smiling with delight as the smell of fresh baked cookies wafts through the house or gagging, taking short breaths as we struggle to get fresh air from the smell of an unkempt, overused portable chemical toilet. Its typically our first “connection” to others in our social bubbles that surround us. We can smell them coming a mile away is the age old adage, but how true does this hold up?
If we were really to put it to the test over all of our other senses, our olfactory senses would more than likely come up as our primary “first sense.” You cannot see someone in the dark, but with the right perfume or lack of therewith we can sure smell them. We would definitely be able to smell someones odor before we were to feel their touch. A silent person might not be detected, but without a shower you’d be sure to discover them. Taste? If you were Doctor Lecter before you “have an old friend for dinner” you’d be sure to spice them appropriately before serving them with some fava beans. It stands to reason then that our sense of smell, while seemingly the one we most take for granted, is also the one we depend on first.
The olfactory system, the favored sensory modality of scientific experimentation, has been studied more than any other in the history of man. With each new study it has been determined that the human olfaction system is actually less developed than most other mammals. Perhaps it is an overload of sensory stimuli that is introduced to us. As our world of material goods increases, thus ultimately shrinking our physical world, we reassign the order of significance to sensory modalities such as sight over smell. The juxtaposition of this theory can be tested with fresh bread just out of the oven in dark silent room. While it is obvious our sense of smell would therefore be the pronounced sensory modality in this instance, it does not answer the question of development of an organ as compared to a rodent in clinical tests.
I am of the opinion that more research needs to be conducted to answer the many questions that still persist. Undoubtedly, just as the Standard Model of particle physics does, the answers we uncover will lead to more questions. It is my hope, dream and passion to uncover the secrets our sense of smell still holds for us. With community input, guidance and research I believe we can expose the truth of what we as a community already understand, and science is slowly albeit reluctantly coming around to, that pheromones are an integral part of human chemical communication.
The olfactory system operates as a chemical sensor that identifies odors from food, environment and other humans directly influencing our social and sexual response. Working as a transcellular transport the remarkable epithelial cells, specialized for the olfactory system, selectively absorb and detect the sensation of odor. They are the only group of neurons that are capable of regeneration. The epithelial cells are initiated as if a switch was turned on a fan pushing odor molecules through the nasal cavity directly to them. When you encounter an odor the molecules, such as pheromones, interact with olfactory vesicles signaling a chemical reaction. The Oder molecules are then guided through the nasal cavity by the nasal conchae to the olfactory epithelium.
The olfactory epithelium is directly responsible for the detection of odors and is only about 3 centimeters wide. The olfactory epithelium is home to 4 distinct cell types consisting of millions upon millions of cells. The 4 distinct cell types are: olfactory, supporting, basal and brush. The Bowman’s glands are also located in the olfactory epithelium which serves to trap and dissolve odors thus constantly renewing or washing away odors.
Basal cells, which are stem cells, are constantly being renewed which create more olfactory receptor cells. This is a process that only occurs in the olfactory system. While odd, the constantly renewed neurons supplied to the system are actually bipolar and form into a group to create the olfactory nerve. The remarkable human olfactory system, because of the incredible resupply of neurons reforms a new olfactory epithelium once every few weeks.
In many humans the vomeronasal organ VNO, which many scientific articles still profess to be the olfactory detection organ for pheromones, is either not present or if it is, a functional organ. I believe we have evolved as a species, with a little help, and thus this organ would no longer serve a purpose.
The olfactory bulb in humans sits on the bottom side of the brain. It is divided into two parts: the main olfactory bulb and the accessory olfactory bulb. Acting as a neural circuit the glomerular layer of the olfactory bulb receives information directly from the olfactory epithelium area and thus begins the synaptic processing of the information to “filter” out background odors while distinction of more prominent odors are distributed to higher function areas of the brain such as the amygdala, neocortext, hippocampus, locus coeruleus, and substantia nigrain. However the olfactory bulb also is on the receiving end of information from these higher function areas.There is still much research to be done on many of the filtering functions of the olfactory bulb.
We do know that learned behavior and our responses take place when the odor information is passed between the olfactory bulb and the amygdala. Odors are codified in the amygdala and remembered just as reactions to pleasant or unpleasant experiences. A pleasant odor will invoke a particular emotional response just as an unpleasant odor will invoke a typically negative response. The odors as coded neurons act as keys to unlock doorways of emotional and physiological states. By passing through the olfactory system to the amygdala, the pheromone odors we use, cue an emotional response from those exposed to our silage.
Through knowledge and research we provide our community the tools to develop pheromone technologies thus enabling the road to further the research. A community that openly shares in acquiring and dissemination of information will grow stronger and create opportunity for expansion. Let us expose to truth all those who withhold for the sake of commercialization that which should be shared.