Sniffing out cancer with insect olfactory neural circuits biorxivpreprint michiganstateu cancer smell olfactory insect insects research
By Dr. Liji Thomas, MDAug 11 2022Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc. The metabolism of cancer cells is abnormal compared to that of normal tissues. This leads to the alteration of volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath of individuals with cancer.
The breath is gas. As such, no clinical gas sensing technology exists at present for the detection of cancer. Volatile chemicals are currently detected as individual components of gaseous mixtures by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry . However, it is slow and requires bulky equipment, with sample pre-processing and storage mandatory.
Again, African giant pouched rats, honeybee proboscis extension reflex , fruit flies, and ants have all shown behavioral changes that correctly identified the presence of specific infections or cancers. These are, however, potentially modified by the animals’ inherent behaviors. Once the ORNs are activated by an odorant, they send electrical signals to the antennal lobe of the insect brain for further processing by an intricate complex of excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Earlier research by these authors confirmed the ability to recognize odors specifically and detect new compounds, both of which are required for a reliable detection system in a natural context.
What did the study show? The investigators found changes evoked by odorants, specifically VOCs, in the excitatory neurons of the locust antennal lobe of the brain. They observed distinctive responses to oral cancer cells, non-cancer cells, and the culture medium, with the three oral cancer cell lines evoking different spiking responses. The spike counts were also different for cancer cells vs. non-cancer cells.
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