Use of a Computer Simulation of the Olfactory Epithelium to Study the Role of Gap Junctions on the Properties of Population Oscillations During Odor Stimulation

To test the hypothesis that gap junctions have a role on electroolfactogram (EOG) oscillations we made two models of olfactory epithelium, one with gap junctions and the other without gap junctions. We gave identical odor stimulus to the two networks and measured their EOG responses. The oscillatory behavior exhibited by the EOG of the network with gap junctions compares better with experimental data found in the literature. The results of this computer simulation favor the hypothesis that gap junctions connecting olfactory epithelium neurons have a role in the generation of the observed EOG oscillations at the moment of odor stimulation