Characteristics of electroantennogram parameters for the detection of odorants

Electroantexmogram (EAG) can be applied to detect odorants since insects have highly specialized olfactory receptors inside their antennae. The characteristics of EAG parameters were investigated for the quantitative measurement of a general odorant using ammonia as a model odorant. The antennae of male silkworm moth, Bombyx mori, were used for the EAG. The electrical signal curves generated from a pair of antennae originating from the same silkworm moth were never identical; however, they exhibited a typical type I or type II characteristic curve pattern for every pair of antennae. The correlation between the EAG parameters and the ammonia concentration was analyzed for the type I and type II antennae. The stability of each parameter was also investigated for each type of antenna. The results show the possibility of the quantitative measurement of general odorants using the EAG technique.