Unilateral naris occlusion with custom-made plugs for reversible olfactory deprivation in juvenile and adult mice

Custom-made unilateral naris occlusion plugs provide a systematic, validated, and reliable method for reversible olfactory deprivation in post-weaning mice.

• Why it matters: Sensory deprivation helps reveal how neurons and circuits adapt to reduced input, and olfaction benefits from controllable, reversible smell loss. Existing nostril-blocking approaches are either invasive and often non-reversible or reversible but lack detailed reproducible frameworks.
• What they did: The authors describe plug construction from commercially available materials, plus procedures, validation, and reliability testing in post-weaning mice. They present a detailed, reproducible workflow for inducing unilateral olfactory deprivation.
• The result: The method is validated as reliable for controlled, reversible olfactory deprivation in post-weaning mice. This enables consistent experiments that manipulate environmental olfactory input with reversibility.

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