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Tennessee State University

Frogs

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Spatial Distribution Of Calcium-Gated Chloride Channels In Olfactory Cilia, Donald A. French, Dorjsuren Badamdorj, Steven J. Kleene Dec 2010

Spatial Distribution Of Calcium-Gated Chloride Channels In Olfactory Cilia, Donald A. French, Dorjsuren Badamdorj, Steven J. Kleene

Mathematical Sciences Faculty Research

Background

In vertebrate olfactory receptor neurons, sensory cilia transduce odor stimuli into changes in neuronal membrane potential. The voltage changes are primarily caused by the sequential openings of two types of channel: a cyclic-nucleotide-gated (CNG) cationic channel and a calcium-gated chloride channel. In frog, the cilia are 25 to 200 µm in length, so the spatial distributions of the channels may be an important determinant of odor sensitivity.

Principal Findings

To determine the spatial distribution of the chloride channels, we recorded from single cilia as calcium was allowed to diffuse down the length of the cilium and activate the channels. …