Cited by 55Olfactory and Sensory Function StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorNeurobiology and Insect Physiology Research

Neural processing of the reward value of pleasant odorants

Open access
Midroit, Maëllie, Chalençon, Laura, Renier, Nicolas, Milton, Adrianna, Thevenet, Marc, Sacquet, Joëlle, Breton, Marine, Forest, Jérémy +9 more·2021·Current Biology

Abstract

Pleasant odorants are represented in the posterior olfactory bulb (pOB) in mice. How does this hedonic information generate odor-motivated behaviors? Using optogenetics, we report here that stimulating the representation of pleasant odorants in a sensory structure, the pOB, can be rewarding, self-motivating, and is accompanied by ventral tegmental area activation. To explore the underlying neural circuitry downstream of the olfactory bulb (OB), we use 3D high-resolution imaging and optogenetics and determine that the pOB preferentially projects to the olfactory tubercle, whose increased activity is related to odorant attraction. We further show that attractive odorants act as reinforcers in dopamine-dependent place preference learning. Finally, we extend those findings to humans, who exhibit place preference learning and an increase BOLD signal in the olfactory tubercle in response to attractive odorants. Thus, strong and persistent attraction induced by some odorants is due to a direct gateway from the pOB to the reward system.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.066

Cites

108 of 108 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Midroit, M., Chalençon, L., Renier, N., Milton, A., Thevenet, M., Sacquet, J., Breton, M., Forest, J., Noury, N., Richard, M., Raineteau, O., Ferdenzi, C., Fournel, A., Wesson, D. W., Bensafi, M., Didier, A., & Mandairon, N.
Affiliations
  • Lyon 1 Université (FR)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Case Western Reserve University (US)
  • University of Florida (US)
Corresponding author
Mandairon, Nathalie
Venue
Current Biology
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-04
Volume
31
Issue
8
Pages
1592-1605.e9
ISSN
0960-9822 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3129836667
Cited by
55
References
108
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 5
FWCI
5.72
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Current Biology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
Funders
CNRS
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
Keywords
olfactory bulb, olfactory tubercle, ventral tegmental area, dopamine, hedonic value, olfactory attraction, reward systems
MeSH terms
Animals, Emotions, Male, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Motivation, Odorants, Olfactory Bulb, Reward, Smell, Mice, Olfactory Perception, Optogenetics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review