# Role of anterior olfactory nucleus for multi-sensory integration in the olfactory system

> **NIH NIH R01** · CORNELL UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $631,935

## Abstract

Project Summary
 Sensory signals encountered under different circumstances may have quite different implications. In the
early olfactory system, preliminary evidence suggests that this (non-olfactory) contextual information is
integrated into odor representations at a very early stage, potentially even the main olfactory bulb. Recent
evidence indicates that the anterior olfactory nucleus (AON), a structure directly adjoining the olfactory bulb,
serves to integrate afferent odor information with contextual information from the ventral hippocampus
(vHC) and is necessary to solve contextually-dependent olfactory decision-making tasks.
 The vHC is known to relay task-relevant spatial contextual information to other brain systems. We here
hypothesize that direct projections from the vHC to the AON play a dominant role in the integration of
contextual and olfactory information, and that the AON embeds this multisensory contextual information into
early-stage odor representations. Our preliminary data show that rodents can learn to respond differently to
odors based on the spatial context in which they are encountered, and that the expression of such a rule
depends on both AON and vHC, whereas a similar but odor-independent task requires vHC but not AON.
We propose a multipronged approach to understanding the integration of spatial context into olfactory
representations, engaging electrophysiological ensemble recordings and interareal coherence
measurements in awake, behaving rodents, the optogenetic manipulation of vHC and AON circuit activities,
and a double-labeling strategy for the within-subjects comparison of immediate-early gene (Fos) responses
across two experimental conditions separated in time.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10869883
- **Project number:** 5R01DC019124-04
- **Recipient organization:** CORNELL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Thomas A Cleland
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $631,935
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-01 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10869883

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10869883, Role of anterior olfactory nucleus for multi-sensory integration in the olfactory system (5R01DC019124-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10869883. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*