In Vivo Bioelectronic Nose Based on a Bioengineered Rat Realizes the Detection and Classification of Multiodorants

Abstract

Inspired by the powerful capability of the biological olfactory system, we developed an in vivo bioelectronic nose based on a bioengineered rat by recording electrophysiological-responsive signals from the olfactory bulb with implanted multichannel microelectrodes. The bioengineered rat was prepared by overexpressing a selected olfactory receptor (OR3) on the rat olfactory epithelium, and multichannel electrophysiological signals were obtained from the mitral/tufted (M/T) cell population of the olfactory bulb. The classification of target multiodorants was realized by analyzing the redundant stimuli-responsive firing information. Ligand odorants induced significant firing changes with specific response patterns compared with nonligand odorants. The responsive curves were dependent on the concentration of target ligand odorants ranging from 10–6 to 10–3 M, and the detection limit was as low as 10–5 M. In addition, different ligand odorants were successfully discriminated via principal component analysis. This in vivo bioelectronic nose provides a novel approach for the detection of specific target odorants and has promising application potential in the field of rapid on-site odor discrimination.

Towards detection of cancer biomarkers in human exhaled air by transfer-learning-powered analysis of odor-evoked calcium activity in rat olfactory bulb

“…To our knowledge, no reports have been made to apply calcium activity of OB glomeruli into bio-hybrid system. In the past research, microelectrodes and microelectrode arrays were widely used to read information from the olfactory system of mammals for the recognition of volatile compounds [ 24 , 25 , 42 , 43 ]. Despite the data on the high efficiency of such systems, it should be noted that the microelectrode method is sensitive to immune responses and electrode movements, which makes it difficult to obtain neural signals for a long period of time [ [44] , [45] , [46] ].…”

“…However, dogs require expensive care and training/retraining costs and are highly susceptible to external interference. At the same time, a bio-electronic nose based on rodent brain-machine interface and machine learning techniques has a comparable sensitivity to the trained animal and can detect odors on a variable background [ 24 , 25 ].…”

Biosensors for Odor Detection: A Review

“…The electrophysiological signal from this glomeruli could detect lower to a 10 −5 M liquid sample trinitrotoluene and distinguish trinitrotoluene from other similarly structured chemicals [78]. Another method is using the bioengineering technique to overexpress OR3 on the rat olfactory epithelium and recording the electrophysiological signals from the olfactory bulb [79]. The detection limit could reach around 10 −5 M towards four ligand odorants.…”

Artificial Olfactory Biohybrid System: An Evolving Sense of Smell

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 49b ] Copyright 2015, Elsevier. f) Schematic diagram of an olfactory and taste receptor‐functionalized multichannel‐type CNT‐FET platform.…”