Page 45 - The Miracles of Smell and Taste

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groups is effected by communication units known as glomerules in the
bulb. Remember, this spherical communication unit is just 0.1 millimeter
30
(0.004 inch) in diameter. There are around 2,000 glomerules in a single
olfactory bulb. Every glomerulus contains up to 25,000 scent receptor cell
axons, and up to 25 mitral cell dendrites. 31
When we consider these figures as a whole, the most astonishing
numbers emerge: Messages from millions of scent cells are transmitted to
tens of thousands of mitral cells. (Figure 14) Millions of units of informa-

tion are thus exchanged between cells in intervals as short as a few thou-
sandths of a second, and in a flawless manner. (No space is devoted to the
marvels of communications in the neurons here. For more detail on this

Scent cells
(Figure 14)
The creation in the olfactory
bulb is exceedingly complex.
The diagram to the side
shows just two scent cells
(brown and blue) with differ-
ent receptors, two glomeruli
Glomerulus
and a few cells. Remember,
there are tens of millions of
Massed cells scent cells, thousands of dif-
Periglomerular ferent scent receptors, 2,000
cells glomeruli, and tens of thou-
Mitral sands of mitral cells, massed
cells cells, granule cells and peri-
glomerular cells in the scent-
perception system. When all
Granule this is borne in mind, the
cells
complexity involved can be
better understood.
To the olfactory region in the brain

Harun Yahya
(Adnan Oktar)