Topic: accessory olfactory bulb

Rodents establish complex interindividual relationships based on the recognition of volatile and non-volatile urine molecules, which are detected by the vomeronasal organ. The resulting signals are processed by the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB), which sends projections to various amygdaloid nuclei, including the posteromedial cortical nucleus (PMCo). The latter is considered the primary vomeronasal cortex due to its embryonic origin, specific laminar organization mediated by reelin, and its direct connection with the AOB. The main goal of this study was to characterize the electrophysiologica

While the main olfactory system is tuned to detect general chemosensory stimuli, the accessory olfactory system integrates semiochemicals and other socially relevant chemostimuli. This duality of the main and accessory olfactory pathways is reflected by separate peripheral sensory organs as well as the main and accessory olfactory bulbs, which comprise entirely separate primary sensory circuits. Notably, downstream convergence of main and accessory olfactory bulb principal neuron projections remains elusive. Here, we set out to analyze these axonal projections and investigate neural physiology

Pheromone signalling regulates rodents’ social and reproductive behaviours. Learning and memorizing pheromone locations is a multimodal phenomenon since pheromones can be found on naturally occurring entities of various shapes and sizes in the environment. To investigate the neural basis of this behaviour, a pheromone place preference paradigm was developed, which required mice to use their olfactory and whisker systems to detect and memorize the pheromone locations. Female mice were trained to detect and learn the location of urinary volatiles from a chamber guarded by specific orifice sizes

Knowing how to behave in the presence of an aggressive conspecific is essential for an individual's survival. For many rodents, olfactory cues are crucial for the animal to identify conspecifics and behave properly. An important region for the expression of social defense is the medial amygdala (MeA). This brain region receives projections from neurons in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) and processes olfactory cues from conspecifics. The MeA is enriched by glutamatergic (VGLUT2) and GABAergic (VGAT) neurons. Interestingly, GABAergic neurons are predominantly located in the posterodorsal par

The tumor protein p73 is involved in a variety of functions including neural development. p73-KO mice lack exploratory genital and mating behavior and are sterile. Since p73 is highly expressed in the vomeronasal organ (VNO), we examined centers related to the pheromonal pathway from embryonic day (E) 12 to adulthood, by using immunohistochemistry. In the p73 KO mouse, the VNO is smaller compared to the WT from the onset of development. However, the vomeronasal nerve (VNN) is present though reduced in size, and serves as a migration substrate for GnRH+ neurons from the olfactory placode to the