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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Sep 5.
Published in final edited form as: J Nat Sci. 2017 Aug;3(8):e422.

Figure 1. The integration of adult born neurons into OB networks is influenced by sensory experience and learning.

Figure 1

A. Inhibitory granule cells (GCs), located in the granule cell layer (GCL) and excitatory mitral cells (orange triangles), located in the mitral cell layer (MCL), make dendrodendritic reciprocal synapses (orange and green circles) in the external plexiform layer (EPL, grey dashed line). Adult-born GCs (green circles) initially receive few excitatory inputs from mitral and tufted cells (M/TCs) (left). Over the course of their development and integration into OB networks, they receive progressively more inputs from M/TCs (right). B. The limited synaptic connectivity between M/TCs and immature adult-born GCs results in a smaller population of immature GCs activated in response to specific odors (left). This corresponds to a small sensory response area in immature GCs (dashed outline). As adult-born GCs mature, they respond to a broader array of odors, causing the GC sensory maps for individual odors to expand (right). The mouse head diagram (inset) shows the OB (green) and the location and orientation of sensory map recordings made through the thinned skull (yellow box). Importantly, the developmental expansion of GC sensory maps is modulated by sensory experience and olfactory learning. Sensory deprivation inhibits the expansion of GC sensory maps. Associative odor learning, on the other hand, potentiates the developmental map expansion.