Sensory integration (SI) is a cognitive process whereby the brain uses unimodal or multimodal sensory features to create a comprehensive representation of the environment. Integration of sensory input is necessary to achieve a coherent perception of the environment, and to subsequently plan and coordinate action. The neural mechanisms mediating SI are poorly understood; however, recent studies suggest that the regulation of SI involves N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). Thus, we tested this hypothesis directly in two experiments using object oddity tests that require SI for visual and olfactory stimuli. First, we blocked NMDARs with acute CPP treatment (i.p., 10 mg/kg) and tested rats in unimodal visual and olfactory SI tests, and respective control unimodal oddity tests that do not require SI. Second, we used intra-OFC infusions of AP5 (30 mM) to examine the role of NMDARs in the OFC in the oddity tests requiring SI. Systemic blockade of NMDARs impaired performance on the visual tests regardless of whether SI was required for determining oddity. In the olfactory tests, systemic treatment with CPP impaired the test requiring SI while sparing olfactory oddity, demonstrating a selective impairment in the olfactory SI. Intra-OFC blockade of NMDARs impaired olfactory SI, without effect on visual SI, demonstrating that intra-OFC NMDARs are essential for olfactory, but not visual SI. The present results are discussed in the context of the function of the OFC and its associated circuitry.

感觉统合（SI）是一种认知过程，大脑通过此过程使用单峰或多峰的感觉特征来创建环境的全面表示。整合感官输入对于实现对环境的一致感知以及随后计划和协调行动是必不可少的。介导SI的神经机制了解甚少。但是，最近的研究表明，SI的调控涉及N-甲基-d-眶额叶皮质（OFC）中的天冬氨酸受体（NMDARs）。因此，我们在两个实验中直接测试了该假设，该实验使用的对象奇数测试要求对视觉和嗅觉刺激使用SI。首先，我们用急性CPP治疗（ip，10 mg / kg）阻断了NMDAR，并在单峰视觉和嗅觉SI测试以及相应的不需要SI的对照单峰奇数测试中对大鼠进行了测试。第二，我们使用AP5（30 mM）的OFC内注入来检查NMDAR在OFC中在需要SI的奇数检验中的作用。无论是否需要SI来确定奇数，对NMDAR的系统性阻断都会损害视觉测试的性能。在嗅觉测试中，用CPP进行全身性治疗会损害需要SI的测试，同时保留嗅觉怪异，这表明嗅觉SI选择性受损。OFC内对NMDAR的阻滞削弱了嗅觉SI，而对视觉SI没有影响，表明OFC内NMDAR对嗅觉至关重要，但对视觉SI却不重要。在OFC及其相关电路的功能范围内讨论了当前结果。