Multi-odor discrimination by rat sniffing for potential monitoring of lung cancer and diabetes

Yunkwang Oh, Ohseok Kwon, Sun Seek Min, Yong Beom Shin, Min Kyu Oh, Moonil Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The discrimination learning of multiple odors, in which multi-odor can be associated with different responses, is important for responding quickly and accurately to changes in the external environment. However, very few studies have been done on multi-odor discrimination by animal sniffing. Herein, we report a novel multi-odor discrimination system by detection rats based on the combination of 2-Choice and Go/No-Go (GNG) tasks into a single paradigm, in which the Go response of GNG was replaced by 2-Choice, for detection of toluene and acetone, which are odor indicators of lung cancer and diabetes, respectively. Three of six trained rats reached performance criterion, in 12 consecutive successful tests within a given set or over 12 sets with a success rate of over 90%. Through a total of 1300 tests, the trained animals (N = 3) showed multi-odor sensing performance with 88% accuracy, 87% sensitivity and 90% specificity. In addition, a dependence of behavior response time on odor concentrations under given concentration conditions was observed, suggesting that the system could be used for quantitative measurements. Furthermore, the animals’ multi-odor sensing performance has lasted for 45 days, indicating long-term stability of the learned multi-odor discrimination. These findings demonstrate that multi-odor discrimination can be achieved by rat sniffing, potentially providing insight into the rapid, accurate and cost-effective multi-odor monitoring in the lung cancer and diabetes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number3696
JournalSensors
Volume21
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021 Jun 1

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

  • 2-choice/no-go
  • Animal biosensor
  • Multi-odor discrimination
  • Olfactory behavior

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Information Systems
  • Instrumentation
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering
  • Biochemistry

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