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Immunohistochemistry of the canine vomeronasal organ
Author(s) -
Dennis J. C.,
Allgier J. G.,
Desouza L. S.,
Eward W. C.,
Morrison E. E.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of anatomy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.932
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1469-7580
pISSN - 0021-8782
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-7580.2003.00200.x-i1
Subject(s) - vomeronasal organ , biology , olfactory epithelium , immunohistochemistry , axon , lamina propria , microbiology and biotechnology , olfactory system , population , epithelium , pathology , anatomy , neuroscience , immunology , medicine , genetics , environmental health
The canine's olfactory acuity is legendary, but neither its main olfactory system nor its vomeronasal system has been described in much detail. We used immunohistochemistry on paraffin‐embedded sections of male and female adult dog vomeronasal organ (VNO) to characterize the expression of proteins known to be expressed in the VNO of several other mammals. Basal cell bodies were more apparent in each section than in rodent VNO and expressed immunoreactivity to anticytokeratin and antiepidermal growth factor receptor antibodies. The thin layer of neurone cell bodies in the sensory epithelium and axon fascicles in the lamina propria expressed immunoreactivity to neurone cell adhesion molecule, neurone‐specific beta tubulin and protein gene product 9.5. Some neurones expressed growth‐associated protein 43 (GAP43): and a number of those also expressed neurone‐specific beta tubulin‐immunoreactivity. Some axon fascicles were double labelled for those two proteins. The G‐protein alpha subunits G i and G o , involved in the signal transduction pathway, showed immunoreactivity in the sensory cell layer. Our results demonstrate that the canine vomeronasal organ contains a population of cells that expresses several neuronal markers. Furthermore, GAP43 immunoreactivity suggests that the sensory epithelium is neurogenic in adult dogs.