Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal: eNeuro

Volume number: 4

Issue number: 3

eISSN: 2373-2822

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0070-17.2017

Publisher: Society for Neuroscience

Abstract: 

Several studies have attempted to test the vibrational hypothesis of odorant receptor activation in behavioral and physiological studies using deuterated compounds as odorants. The results have been mixed. Here, we attempted to test how deuterated compounds activate odorant receptors using calcium imaging of the fruit fly antennal lobe. We found specific activation of one area of the antennal lobe corresponding to inputs from a specific receptor. However, upon more detailed analysis, we discovered that an impurity of 0.0006% ethyl acetate in a chemical sample of benzaldehyde-d5 was entirely responsible for a sizable odorant-evoked response in Drosophila melanogaster olfactory receptor cells expressing dOr42b. Without gas chromatographic purification within the experimental setup, this impurity would have created a difference in the responses of deuterated and nondeuterated benzaldehyde, suggesting that dOr42b be a vibration sensitive receptor, which we show here not to be the case. Our results point to a broad problem in the literature on use of non-GC-pure compounds to test receptor selectivity, and we suggest how the limitations can be overcome in future studies.

Harvard Citation style: Paoli, M., Münch, D., Haase, A., Skoulakis, E., Turin, L. and Galizia, C. (2017) Minute Impurities Contribute Significantly to Olfactory Receptor Ligand Studies: Tales from Testing the Vibration Theory, eNeuro, 4(3), Article UNSP e0070-17.2017. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0070-17.2017

APA Citation style: Paoli, M., Münch, D., Haase, A., Skoulakis, E., Turin, L., & Galizia, C. (2017). Minute Impurities Contribute Significantly to Olfactory Receptor Ligand Studies: Tales from Testing the Vibration Theory. eNeuro. 4(3), Article UNSP e0070-17.2017. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0070-17.2017