The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a sensory organ that is found in most terrestrial vertebrates and that is principally implicated in the detection of pheromones. The VNO contains specialized sensory neurons organized in a pseudostratified neuroepithelium that recognize chemical signals involved in initiating innate behavioral responses. In rodents, the VNO neuroepithelium is segregated into two d...

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) is present in nervus terminalis neurons in chemosensory nerve fascicles in vertebrates. In rodents, the majority of GnRH fibers are located within vomeronasal nerves. We have shown that GnRH can alter vomeronasal receptor neuron responses to odors. In this study, using prairie voles, we tested the hypotheses that (i) GnRH-immunoreactive (-ir) neurons projec...

Most tetrapods, the group of vertebrates that includes amphibians, reptiles, and mammals, possess separate olfactory and vomeronasal systems. Why? What are the functions of these two anatomically distinct chemosensory systems? Although the vomeronasal system is often presumed to be specialized for mediating responses to pheromones and the olfactory system assumed to respond to “general odorants...

I n a previous communication the writer (’12) has shown the presence in mammals of two distinct groups of nerve fibers in the olfactory region which terminate in separate ganglionic masses on the surface of the olfactory bulb. These are the common olfactory fibers arising from the olfactory mucosa, and the vomeronasal nerves arising in the vomeronasal organ (Jacobson’s organ). The former ramify...

In Drosophila, the cephalic gap gene empty spiracles plays key roles in embryonic patterning of the peripheral and central nervous system. During postembryonic development, it is involved in the development of central olfactory circuitry in the antennal lobe of the adult. However, its possible role in the postembryonic development of peripheral olfactory sense organs has not been investigated. ...

This study examines how the family of neurotrophin receptor tyrosine kinases (Trks) participates in the regeneration and replacement of olfactory neurons within the adult rat olfactory neuroepithelium. mRNA and protein products representing the high-affinity nerve growth factor (NGF) receptor Trk A, its family members Trk B and Trk C, and the low-affinity NGF receptor (INGFR) are all detected w...

Cilia dysfunction underlies a class of human diseases with variable penetrance in different organ systems. Across eukaryotes, intraflagellar transport (IFT) facilitates cilia biogenesis and cargo trafficking, but our understanding of mammalian IFT is insufficient. Here we perform live analysis of cilia ultrastructure, composition and cargo transport in native mammalian tissue using olfactory se...

Olfactory epithelium from the frog was examined in the living state by light microscopy and in the fixed state by electron microscopy. Particular attention was paid to the layer of cilia and mucus which covers the surface of the epithelium. The olfactory cilia differed from typical cilia in that they (a) arose from bipolar neurons and had centrioles near their basal bodies, (b) were up to 200 m...

The olfactory system plays one of the key roles in the lives of humans and animals. It can detect thousands of different odor molecules through a large family of olfactory receptors (ORs), of a diverse protein sequence, which are located in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the olfactory epithelium in the nose of humans, and in the vomeronasal organ in animals. The OR family is comprised of 1...