Identification of a new neural pathway essential for refining odor perception

In the brain, sensory messages are processed by neurons that send the information collected by the sensory organ to the different structures of the brain. At each stage of integration, the activity of these neurons is controlled by interneurons that exert local inhibition in order to direct and modulate the neural messages. This type of circuit forms the classical architecture of the sensory brain systems in vertebrates. A team of researchers from the Institut Pasteur, the CNRS, and Université Paris Cité revealed the existence, in an animal model, of inhibitory neurons that establish connections from a distance, taking the reverse path from so-called "higher" brain structures to the olfactory bulb. This new retroactive inhibitory circuit is essential for fine processing of sensory information. These findings were published in Nature Communications.

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