1 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: How does the nose differentiate between thousands of different scents?
each receptor for each scent is a theory generally used, but there are million of molecules with distinct scent and we need million receptor. I will be more inclined to think that different structure binding to one receptor producing different signal level in olfactory nerves will be more appropriate. It will explain why all alcohol has similar smell with slight variation.
Comment by PM_ME_UR_ROUND_ASS at 17/03/2025 at 00:18 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Actually, we have ~400 different receptor types that can each bind to many different molecules with varying affinities, creating unique activation patterns that our brain interprets as distinct smells - thats why we can detect thousands of scents with relatively few receptors.