| Title: | Shared and differential traits in the accessory olfactory bulb of caviomorph rodents with particular reference to the semiaquatic capybara |
| Author(s): | Suarez R; Santibanez R; Parra D; Coppi AA; Abrahao LM; Sasahara TH; Mpodozis J; |
| Address: | "Laboratory of Neurobiology and Biology of Cognition, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile. rsuarezsaa@gmail.com" |
| DOI: | 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01357.x |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1469-7580 (Electronic) 0021-8782 (Print) 0021-8782 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The vomeronasal system is crucial for social and sexual communication in mammals. Two populations of vomeronasal sensory neurons, each expressing Galphai2 or Galphao proteins, send projections to glomeruli of the rostral or caudal accessory olfactory bulb, rAOB and cAOB, respectively. In rodents, the Galphai2- and Galphao-expressing vomeronasal pathways have shown differential responses to small/volatile vs. large/non-volatile semiochemicals, respectively. Moreover, early gene expression suggests predominant activation of rAOB and cAOB neurons in sexual vs. aggressive contexts, respectively. We recently described the AOB of Octodon degus, a semiarid-inhabiting diurnal caviomorph. Their AOB has a cell indentation between subdomains and the rAOB is twice the size of the cAOB. Moreover, their AOB receives innervation from the lateral aspect, contrasting with the medial innervation of all other mammals examined to date. Aiming to relate AOB anatomy with lifestyle, we performed a morphometric study on the AOB of the capybara, a semiaquatic caviomorph whose lifestyle differs remarkably from that of O. degus. Capybaras mate in water and scent-mark their surroundings with oily deposits, mostly for male-male communication. We found that, similar to O. degus, the AOB of capybaras shows a lateral innervation of the vomeronasal nerve, a cell indentation between subdomains and heterogeneous subdomains, but in contrast to O. degus the caudal portion is larger than the rostral one. We also observed that four other caviomorph species present a lateral AOB innervation and a cell indentation between AOB subdomains, suggesting that those traits could represent apomorphies of the group. We propose that although some AOB traits may be phylogenetically conserved in caviomorphs, ecological specializations may play an important role in shaping the AOB" |
| Keywords: | Animals Olfactory Bulb/*anatomy & histology Rats Rodentia/*anatomy & histology Species Specificity Vomeronasal Organ/innervation; |
| Notes: | "MedlineSuarez, Rodrigo Santibanez, Rodrigo Parra, Daniela Coppi, Antonio A Abrahao, Luciana M B Sasahara, Tais H C Mpodozis, Jorge eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2011/04/05 J Anat. 2011 May; 218(5):558-65. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7580.2011.01357.x. Epub 2011 Feb 25" |
