What you need to know: CU Anschutz researchers discovered that the subtype identities of some new neurons, previously thought to be random, actually depends on odor stimulation. The study hints that life-long olfactory sensory neurogenesis may have an important adaptive function in addition to simple repair.
Olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are nasal neurons that make use of hundreds of different types of odorant receptors to analyze odorous chemicals in our external world and send that information to our brain. These neurons have the unusual ability to undergo turnover throughout life – a process understood to happen due to the special vulnerability of these neurons to environmental insults, such as viruses.