This article is about the olfactory system in vertebrates, particularly humans. For the sense of smell in other lifeforms, see Olfaction. For machines, see Machine olfaction.
Olfactory system
Components of the olfactory system
Identifiers
FMA
7190
Anatomical terminology
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The olfactory system or sense of smell is the sensory system used for smelling (olfaction). Olfaction is one of the special senses, that have directly associated specific organs. Most mammals and reptiles have a main olfactory system and an accessory olfactory system. The main olfactory system detects airborne substances, while the accessory system senses fluid-phase stimuli.
The senses of smell and taste (gustatory system) are often referred to together as the chemosensory system, because they both give the brain information about the chemical composition of objects through a process called transduction.
a main olfactorysystem and an accessory olfactorysystem. The main olfactorysystem detects airborne substances, while the accessory system senses fluid-phase...
transmitting a signal through the olfactorysystem. Glomeruli aggregate signals from these receptors and transmit them to the olfactory bulb, where the sensory...
afferent nerve fibers of the olfactory receptor neurons transmit nerve impulses about odors to the central nervous system (olfaction). Derived from the...
The olfactory bulb (Latin: bulbus olfactorius) is a neural structure of the vertebrate forebrain involved in olfaction, the sense of smell. It sends olfactory...
Olfactory receptors (ORs), also known as odorant receptors, are chemoreceptors expressed in the cell membranes of olfactory receptor neurons and are responsible...
behind the nostrils. The olfactory epithelium is the part of the olfactorysystem directly responsible for detecting odors. Olfactory epithelium consists of...
chemoreceptors are integral to receiving stimuli in gases in the olfactorysystem through both olfactory receptor neurons and neurons in the vomeronasal organ....
Phantosmia (phantom smell), also called an olfactory hallucination or a phantom odor, is smelling an odor that is not actually there. This is intrinsically...
An olfactory receptor neuron (ORN), also called an olfactory sensory neuron (OSN), is a sensory neuron within the olfactorysystem. Humans have between...
The olfactory mucosa is the neuroepithelialial mucosa lining the roof and upper parts of the septum and lateral wall of the nasal cavity which contains...
respective visual system (sense of vision), auditory system (sense of hearing), somatosensory system (sense of touch), olfactorysystem (sense of smell)...
The olfactory peduncle (olfactory tract, olfactory stalk) is a bilateral bundle of afferent nerve fibers from the mitral and tufted cells of the olfactory...
Benarroch, Eduardo E.; Raina, Gabriela B. (2021). "16 - Lewy bodies in the olfactorysystem and the hypothalamus". Handbook of Clinical Neurology. Vol. 182. Elsevier...
vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is the paired auxiliary olfactory (smell) sense organ located in the soft tissue of the nasal septum, in...
raphe nuclei, habenular commissure, entorhinal cortex, and olfactory bulbs. The limbic system was originally defined by Paul Broca as a series of cortical...
of the olfactory apparatus, such as the size of the olfactory bulb and epithelium. Nonetheless, the general features of the olfactorysystem are highly...
must be sufficiently volatile for transmission via the air to the olfactorysystem in the upper part of the nose. As examples, various fragrant fruits...
Olfactory glands, also known as Bowman's glands, are a type of nasal gland situated in the part of the olfactory mucosa beneath the olfactory epithelium...
the nasopharynx and smell receptors. The first stop in the olfactorysystem is the olfactory epithelium, or tissue resting on the roof of the nasal cavity...
The olfactory tubercle (OT), also known as the tuberculum olfactorium, is a multi-sensory processing center that is contained within the olfactory cortex...
found in the nervous system. They are also known as olfactory Schwann cells, because they ensheath the non-myelinated axons of olfactory neurons in a similar...
nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes through the pharynx, shared with the digestive system, and then into...
effectively blocked epileptic synchronization in the brain. Neurons in the olfactorysystem are unmyelinated and densely packed and thus the often small effects...
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