RESPONSE OF AMERICAN-COCKROACH (PERIPLANETA-AMERICANA) OLFACTORY RECEPTORS TO SELECTED ALCOHOL ODORANTS AND THEIR BINARY COMBINATIONS

The cockroach is known to possess several morphologically distinct typ es of sensilla on its antenna, each of which contain a couple or a few receptor cells that respond to an array of compounds. We recorded the response of cells exclusively from one type of sensillum to evaluate the variation in the response of the cells in these sensilla to three closely related alcohols and their binary mixtures. Our results indica te that cells within the class of those responsive to aliphatic alcoho ls are otherwise variable in their response to particular aliphatic al cohols and not easily classifiable into subclasses. They also indicate that patterns of responses among cells are not robust with respect to concentration. Finally, a considerable level of inhibition is indicat ed in the response of the receptor cells to binary mixtures compared w ith the response to pure odorants. The data suggest that discriminatio n of alcohols (and other odorants of general but not special significa nce) by the cockroach cannot be understood simply in terms of labeled lines or linear filters.