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Ontogeny and microanatomy of the nasal turbinals in four genera of lemuriformes
Author(s) -
Smith Tim D,
Martell Molly C,
Rossie James B,
DeLeon Valerie B
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.1030.4
Subject(s) - anatomy , biology , olfactory mucosa , extant taxon , lamina propria , lemur , olfactory system , nasal cavity , evolutionary biology , neuroscience , primate , genetics , epithelium
The nasal cavity of strepsirrhine primates (lemurs and lorises) has the most primitive arrangement of extant primates. The numerous turbinals of the ethmoid bear a large surface area of olfactory mucosa (OM), although to date this has only been carefully studied in smaller nocturnal species. In the present study, we examine turbinal development in four genera of diurnal or cathemeral lemuriformes. In addition, we examined an age series of each genus in order to detect whether structures bearing OM as opposed to respiratory mucosa (RM) develop differently, as has been observed in nocturnal strepsirrhines. In adults, throughout its entire length the maxilloturbinal is covered by highly vascular respiratory mucosa with large sinusoidal vessels in the lamina propria; any turbinal that closely borders the maxilloturbinal has a similar vascular RM. Posteriorly, the most vascular RM is restricted in the nasopharyngeal duct, which becomes partitioned from the dorsal olfactory region. A comparison of newborns to adults reveals that the first ethmoturbinal increases more in length in the parts that are covered with RM than OM, which supports the idea that ethmoturbinals can specialize in more than olfactory function. Finally, we observe that the regions of turbinals that are ultimately covered with RM develop more accessory laminae or additional surface area of existing scrolls compared to the regions covered with OM. Because such outgrowths of bone develop postnatally and without cartilaginous precursors, we hypothesize that the complexity of olfactory lamellae within the ethmoturbinal complex is primarily established at birth, while respiratory lamellae become elaborated due to the epigenetic influence of respiratory physiology. Support or Funding Information This study was supported by NSF # BCS‐1231350; NSF # BCS‐1231717; NSF # BCS‐0959438