New Kid on the Block: A Role for the Na/Ca Exchanger in Odor Transduction

Odors seem the most subtle of sensory stimuli, yet our ability to detect them is robust, and their capacity to influence our actions is profound. Although scientists have studied olfaction for >2,000 yr, advances in understanding the cell physiology of odor detection have occurred especially rapidly in the past decade since the application of the patch clamp technique (Anderson and Ache, 1985; Trotier, 1986). Important roles for G protein–coupled receptors, intracellular messengers, and certain ion channels in odor transduction were demonstrated (for review see Schild and Restrepo, 1998), and it seemed that the odor response might well be regulated in its entirety by these components or through modulation of them. Now, Reisert and Matthews (1998) present evidence that a Na/Ca exchanger appears to control the decline of the sensory transduction current in at least some frog olfactory receptor neurons. This observation extends the list of...