olfactory epithelium

anatomy
Also known as: nasal epithelium

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Assorted References

  • structure of nasal cavities
    • human lungs
      In human respiratory system: The nose

      …roof of the nose, the olfactory bulb with its sensory epithelium checks the quality of the inspired air. About two dozen olfactory nerves convey the sensation of smell from the olfactory cells through the bony roof of the nasal cavity to the central nervous system.

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role in

    • chemoreception
      • Chemoreception enables animals to respond to chemicals that can be tasted and smelled in their environments. Many of these chemicals affect behaviours such as food preference and defense.
        In chemoreception: Fish

        …on accessory cells in the olfactory epithelium. In contrast, in rockfish and some other benthic fish, the volume changes produced in the mouth by respiratory movements compress and expand accessory chambers that are associated with the olfactory epithelium, causing water to move into and out of the nasal cavity. The…

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      • Chemoreception enables animals to respond to chemicals that can be tasted and smelled in their environments. Many of these chemicals affect behaviours such as food preference and defense.
        In chemoreception: Homing

        …the sensory cells of the olfactory epithelium. The level of this hormone in the blood depends partly on the age of the fish and partly on environmental conditions. As a result, the timing of imprinting may vary from place to place. However, the increase in sensitivity of these cells does…

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      • Chemoreception enables animals to respond to chemicals that can be tasted and smelled in their environments. Many of these chemicals affect behaviours such as food preference and defense.
        In chemoreception: Early experience

        …juniper in the young rabbit’s olfactory epithelium. However, whether this arises through an increase in the frequency of a particular receptor type or an increase in sensitivity of existing receptors is not known. Comparable changes have been shown to occur in the preference of human babies for carrots, although the…

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      • Chemoreception enables animals to respond to chemicals that can be tasted and smelled in their environments. Many of these chemicals affect behaviours such as food preference and defense.
        In chemoreception: Smell

        …large numbers (millions), forming an olfactory epithelium within the nasal cavity. Each receptor cell has a single external process that extends to the surface of the epithelium and gives rise to a number of long, slender extensions called cilia. The cilia are covered by the mucus of the nasal cavity.…

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    • human sense of smell
      • In nasal concha

        In higher vertebrates the olfactory epithelium is associated with these upper chambers, resulting in keener sense of smell. In humans, who are less dependent on the sense of smell, the nasal conchae are much reduced. The components of the nasal conchae are the inferior, medial, superior, and supreme turbinates.

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      • sensory reception
        In human sensory reception: Smell (olfactory) sense

        …mucus that normally covers the nasal epithelium, or lining. The end of each receptor narrows to a fine nerve fibre, which, along with many others, travels through a channel in the bony roof of the nasal cavity and enters either of two specialized structures called olfactory bulbs—stemlike projections under the…

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