Abstract
Olfaction plays an important role in the evaluation, motivation, and palatability of food. The chemical identity of odorants is coded by a spatial combination of activated glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, which is referred to as the odor map. However, the functional roles of the olfactory cortex, a collective region that receives axonal projections from the olfactory bulb, and higher olfactory centers in odor-guided eating behaviors are yet to be elucidated. The olfactory tubercle (OT) is a component of the ventral striatum and forms a node within the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Recent studies have revealed the anatomical domain structures of the OT and their functions in distinct odor-guided motivated behaviors. Another component of the ventral striatum, the nucleus accumbens, is well known for its involvement in motivation and hedonic responses for foods, which raises the possibility of functional similarities between the OT and nucleus accumbens in eating. This review first summarizes recent findings on the domain- and neuronal subtype-specific roles of the OT in odor-guided motivated behaviors and then proposes a model for the regulation of eating behaviors by the OT.
Introduction
The smell of food stimulates appetite, especially during states of hunger. Conversely, the smell of rotten foods incites a sense of discomfort and promotes arousal. The sense of olfaction is also involved in mastication. Volatile flavor compounds move through the nasopharynx and reach the olfactory mucosa, a process termed as retronasal olfaction. Therefore, the sense of “taste” and pleasure of palatable tastes is attenuated if the nose is pinched during chewing or drinking. Gustatory, tactile, and olfactory inputs of foods are integrated during “tasting” and create a sense of “flavor,” subsequently resulting in the palatability of foods. Thus, olfaction is involved in the evaluation, appetite, and palatability of food before and during eating (; ).
Odorants are volatile chemical molecules that can be detected by olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium. Each olfactory sensory neuron expresses a single type of odorant receptor that has a particular molecular receptive range and sends axons to a specific glomerulus in the olfactory bulb, the first relay center of the central olfactory system (). Odorants are coded by specific combinations of activated glomeruli, termed “odor maps,” in the olfactory bulb (). The brain regions that receive synaptic inputs from projection neurons in the olfactory bulb (mitral and tufted cells) are collectively referred to as the olfactory cortex (). The olfactory cortex includes the anterior olfactory nucleus, tenia tecta, piriform cortex, olfactory tubercle (OT), cortical amygdala, and entorhinal cortex. In contrast to that in the olfactory bulb, the spatial combination of activated neurons in the piriform cortex does not seem to represent the chemical identities of odorants (). Axonal projections from the olfactory bulb to the olfactory cortex are diffused and dispersed (; ). To date, the nature of the information encoded by neural activity in the olfactory cortex has not been elucidated. Furthermore, the neural mechanisms underpinning odor-guided evaluation, appetite, and palatability of foods remain unclear.
The OT is a component of the olfactory cortex based on the definition that it receives direct inputs from the olfactory bulb and has been observed in every mammal studied including humans and rodents to date. The term “olfactory tubercle” is used to designate the region on the basal surface of the frontal lobe between the olfactory tract and the nucleus of the diagonal band in humans (; ). The OT also forms the ventral striatum, is anatomically bridged to the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and is a component of the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway (; ; ). The OT can efficiently induce intracranial self-administration of addictive drugs (; ; ), which are hallmarks of reward processing in the brain (). Recent studies have revealed the involvement of the OT in motivated behaviors, including eating. In this review, I first outline how anatomical maps of the OT match the functional domains of distinct motivated behaviors. I then propose hypothetical roles of the OT in eating behaviors based on the sense of olfaction.
Functional Domains of the Olfactory Tubercle and Odor-Guided Motivated Behaviors
The principal neurons in most areas of the olfactory cortex are pyramidal-type glutamatergic neurons. By contrast, the majority of neurons in the OT, as a component of the striatum, are small to medium-sized spiny GABAergic neurons (; ). The cytoarchitecture of the OT comprises three major neuronal types: medium spiny neurons distributed in layer II of the cortex-like region; dwarf cells, which are small spiny neurons constituting the cap regions (); and granule cells, which are also small GABAergic neurons constituting the Islands of Calleja (; ). These structural divisions can be observed based on the mRNA expression levels of the dopamine receptors D1 and D2 (Figure 1; ). Medium spiny neurons in the cortex-like region express either Drd1 or Drd2 mRNA (Figures 1A,B). The dwarf cells in the cap region express Drd1 but not Drd2 mRNA (Figures 1B,C). The granule cells in the Islands of Calleja are characterized by weak expression of Drd1 mRNA and the absence of Drd2 mRNA (Figures 1B,C). The cap region and Islands of Calleja are also distinguishable by the expression of DARPP-32, as the cap regions are immunopositive and the Islands of Calleja are immunonegative for DARPP-32, respectively (; ). The cap regions run in an anteroposterior direction through the lateral part of the OT. In contrast, the Islands of Calleja run in an anteroposterior direction through the anteromedial superficial layer to the posteromedial deep layer (; ).
FIGURE 1
A recent study revealed that spatially segregated domains of the OT are involved in distinct motivated behaviors. Learned odor-induced attractive and aversive behaviors accompanied c-fos expression in distinct domains of the OT (
The involvement of the medial domain of the OT in attractive behaviors has been demonstrated in several reports. The anteromedial OT was the most effective region that elicited intracranial self-administration of cocaine among a range of distinct striatal regions including the anteromedial OT, anterolateral OT, posteromedial OT, NAc shell and core, and dorsal striatum (
Involvement of the Olfactory Tubercle and Nucleus Accumbens in Motivated and Hedonic Eating
Another component of the ventral striatum, the NAc, constitutes a critical node within mesocorticolimbic circuits that mediate “wanting” and “liking” (
The development of OT neural circuits during weaning has implications for the involvement of the OT in eating. Neurogenesis of the OT in the embryonic mouse and rat occurs in a lateral-to-medial gradient (
The OT receives multimodal sensory inputs alongside olfaction (
A Hypothetical Neural Model Relating the OT and Eating Behavior
In summary, the OT has the following neuroanatomical and neurochemical similarities with the NAc: dense dopaminergic inputs from the VTA, high expression of the dopamine receptors, and GABAergic outputs to the ventral pallidum (
As previously mentioned, the cytoarchitectonically defined-domains of the mouse OT play distinct roles in attractive and aversive responses to odor cues (Figure 1). These domains raise the possibility that D1 receptor-expressing neurons in the anteromedial domain facilitate eating by high evaluation, motivation, and hedonic response to food-related odors and flavors. In contrast, D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the anteromedial domain and D1 receptor-expressing neurons in the lateral domain may suppress eating by low evaluation, demotivation, and disgusting response to food-related odors and flavors. The OT also expresses orexigenic and anorexigenic peptides and their receptors (
FIGURE 2

A hypothetical model of the OT and eating. The OT receives and may integrate olfactory inputs and feeding-related hormonal signals, as well as other sensory modalities, visceral, and neuromodulatory inputs. The hypothesis is that activation of the D1 receptor-expressing neurons in the anteromedial OT increases food intake, whereas activation of the D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the anteromedial OT and D1 receptor-expressing neurons in the lateral OT decreases food intake based on their involvement in attractive and aversive behaviors, respectively. Feeding-related hormonal signals, such hunger and satiety, may regulate the activity of OT neurons in a domain- and cell type-specific manner. These signals result in homeostatic evaluation, motivation, and hedonic responses to food odors and flavors. D1 and D2 receptor-expressing neurons in layer II of the cortex-like region were noted to be intermingled in both the anteromedial and lateral OT domains, as shown in Figure 1 but simplified here in this figure. Red circles, D1 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in layer II of cortex-like regions and dwarf cells in the cap regions (arrows); blue circles, D2 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in layer II of cortex-like regions; gray circles, granule cells in the Islands of Calleja (arrowheads). Pir, piriform cortex; NAc, nucleus accumbens; VP, ventral pallidum; ICj, Islands of Calleja. D, dorsal; V, ventral; M, medial; L, lateral. Stereotaxic atlas from
Statements
Author contributions
KM wrote the manuscript.
Funding
KM was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 16H01671, 16K18377, 17KK0190, and 18H05005, and by the Takeda Science Foundation.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
olfaction, olfactory tubercle, eating, dopamine, motivation, palatability, attractive behavior, aversive behavior
Citation
Murata K (2020) Hypothetical Roles of the Olfactory Tubercle in Odor-Guided Eating Behavior. Front. Neural Circuits 14:577880. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2020.577880
Received
30 June 2020
Accepted
21 October 2020
Published
11 November 2020
Volume
14 - 2020
Edited by
Masahiro Yamaguchi, Kōchi University, Japan
Reviewed by
Daniel W. Wesson, University of Florida, United States; Fuqiang Xu, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China
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© 2020 Murata.
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*Correspondence: Koshi Murata, kmurata@u-fukui.ac.jp
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