| Title: | Ex vivo preparations of the intact vomeronasal organ and accessory olfactory bulb |
| Author(s): | Doyle WI; Hammen GF; Meeks JP; |
| Address: | "Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center. Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University in St. Louis. Department of Neuroscience, UT Southwestern Medical Center; Julian.Meeks@utsouthwestern.edu" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1940-087X (Electronic) 1940-087X (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The mouse accessory olfactory system (AOS) is a specialized sensory pathway for detecting nonvolatile social odors, pheromones, and kairomones. The first neural circuit in the AOS pathway, called the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), plays an important role in establishing sex-typical behaviors such as territorial aggression and mating. This small (<1 mm(3)) circuit possesses the capacity to distinguish unique behavioral states, such as sex, strain, and stress from chemosensory cues in the secretions and excretions of conspecifics. While the compact organization of this system presents unique opportunities for recording from large portions of the circuit simultaneously, investigation of sensory processing in the AOB remains challenging, largely due to its experimentally disadvantageous location in the brain. Here, we demonstrate a multi-stage dissection that removes the intact AOB inside a single hemisphere of the anterior mouse skull, leaving connections to both the peripheral vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) and local neuronal circuitry intact. The procedure exposes the AOB surface to direct visual inspection, facilitating electrophysiological and optical recordings from AOB circuit elements in the absence of anesthetics. Upon inserting a thin cannula into the vomeronasal organ (VNO), which houses the VSNs, one can directly expose the periphery to social odors and pheromones while recording downstream activity in the AOB. This procedure enables controlled inquiries into AOS information processing, which can shed light on mechanisms linking pheromone exposure to changes in behavior" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Electrophysiological Phenomena Female Mice Mice, Inbred BALB C Odorants Olfactory Bulb/*anatomy & histology/*physiology/surgery Pheromones/physiology Vomeronasal Organ/*anatomy & histology/*physiology/surgery;neuroscience;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineDoyle, Wayne I Hammen, Gary F Meeks, Julian P eng F30 DC011673/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ R00 DC011780/DC/NIDCD NIH HHS/ Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Video-Audio Media 2014/08/26 J Vis Exp. 2014 Aug 4; (90):e51813. doi: 10.3791/51813" |
