Excitation and adaptation of frog olfactory receptor neurones upon stimulation with second messengers and natural odorants

Over the last five years it has become feasible to study the olfactory transduction process by the patch-clamp technique. Valuable contributions have come from Maue and Dionne (1987), Firestein and Werblin (1987,1989), Frings and Lindemann (1988), Zufall et al.(1989), Schild (1989), Schmiedel-Jacob et al.(1989), and Trotier (1986). From these studies we now know more about the ionic channels and the whole-cell voltage-gated currents present in these cells, though their physiological role has not been clarified in detail.