Presenter(s): Isabelle Cullen — Neuroscience
Faculty Mentor(s): Dr. Matt Smear, Dr. Avinash Singh
Session: (In-Person) Oral Panel—Stimuli and Response
Olfactomotor responses are respiratory, orofacial, and locomotive movements used during olfactory sampling and in response to odors (Rabell et al. 2017, Kurnikova, Deschênes, and Kleinfeld 2019, Findley et al. 2020, Johnson et al 2003, Wesson et al 2008, Jones and Urban 2018). Altered sensory sampling behaviors, such as eye movement, temperature insensitivity, and excessive sniffing, have been identified in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In addition, Rozenkrantz et al. (2015) showed that olfactomotor behavior is affected in children with ASD. These children do not modulate sniffing behavior to aversive odors despite correctly identifying odors as unpleasant, suggesting an altered unconscious motor response. To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying olfactomotor sampling, we investigated respiratory and orofacial responses to odor using wildtype mice. Wildtype mice are exposed to 2-phenylethanol (attractive odor), 2-methylbutyric acid (aversive odor), alpha-pinene (neutral odor), or clear air in the course of a behavioral session. We record respiration with an intranasal thermistor, and track orofacial movements using DeepLabCut. Our preliminary results in wildtype mice (n=2) suggest that mice alter their sniffing speed and nose movement in response to odor stimuli. This work will shed light on active olfaction and help us understand more about naturalistic olfactomotor behaviors.