PHS 3341 Lecture 8: CNS 5 - Rewritten

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Physiology
• Course: PHS 3341
• Professor: Stephen Gee

Document Summary

The olfactory mucosa (smell), a 3 square centimeter patch of mucosa in the ceiling of the nasal cavity, contains three cell types: olfactory receptor cells, supporting cells, and basal cells. The supporting cells secrete mucus, which coats the nasal passages. To be smelled, substance must be sufficiently volatile (easily vaporized) that some of. The receptor portion of an olfactory receptor cell consists of an enlarged knob bearing several long cilia that extend like a tassel to the surface of the mucosa. These cilia contain the binding sites for the attachment of odorants, molecules that can be smelled. To be smelled, substance must be sufficiently volatile (easily vaporized) that some of the molecules that enter the nose in the inspired air sufficiently water soluble so that it can dissolve in the mucus coating the olfactory mucosa. As with taste receptors, to be detected by olfactory receptors, molecules must be dissolved.