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Impulse conduction of olfactory receptor neuron axons
Author(s) -
Phillips Shayne,
Griff Edwin R.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
microscopy research and technique
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1097-0029
pISSN - 1059-910X
DOI - 10.1002/jemt.10145
Subject(s) - olfactory bulb , antidromic , nerve conduction velocity , anatomy , neuroscience , orthodromic , stimulation , chemistry , electrophysiology , axon , biophysics , biology , central nervous system
Compound action potentials were recorded from rat olfactory receptor neuron axons at measured distances from the stimulation electrode along the lateral surface of the main olfactory bulb. Distances were plotted as a function of the latencies measured from stimulus onset to the prominent negative trough of the triphasic compound action potential. A straight line was fitted to these data to calculate impulse conduction velocity, 0.42 ± 0.01 m/s (n = 25). Two procedures were used to investigate whether those axons that project to caudal regions of the bulb had faster conduction velocities than axons projecting to rostral bulb. First, the stimulating electrode was moved to mid‐bulb and the recording electrode was placed on the caudal bulb. Alternatively, axons were stimulated antidromically at the caudal bulb. These two procedures stimulate those axons projecting to caudal bulb and bypass olfactory receptor neuron axons that synapse in the rostral bulb. The mean impulse conduction velocities from these caudal and antidromic recordings were 0.58 ± 0.19 m/s (n = 8) and 0.57 ± 0.19 m/s (n = 9), respectively. Though both of these means are higher than the impulse conduction velocity calculated for stimulation at the rostral bulb, the differences were not statistically significant. Microsc. Res. Tech. 58:161–167, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.