First detailed 'smell map' reveals how noses track odours

A microscope cross-section image of a mouse nose, showing the anatomical structure of the nasal epithelium. Credit: Datta Lab Olfactory receptors in the mouse nose have been mapped out in unprecedented detail — overturning researchers’ understanding of how noses build a sense of smell. The research, published today 1 in Cell , shows how around 1,100 olfactory receptors expressed on sensory neurons are organized in tightly regulated spatial locations in the epithelial tissue that lines the nasal …