The current working model of transduction in lobster olfactory receptor cells suggests that: (1) inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) is the excitatory olfactory second messenger in these cells; (2) activation of the cell also involves a secondary, current-carrying channel; and (3) the phosphoinositol pathway works in parallel to a second, cyclic nucleotide-mediated signaling pathway that provides input of opposite polarity into the cell. The complexity of intracellular signaling in lobster olfactory receptor cells renders the cells capable of fine tuning, and even integrating, the signal they send to the brain.
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