Premium
Laminar distribution of pheromone‐receptive neurons in rat vomeronasal epithelium
Author(s) -
Inamura Kouhei,
Matsumoto Yuko,
Kashiwayanagi Makoto,
Kurihara Kenzo
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the journal of physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.802
H-Index - 240
eISSN - 1469-7793
pISSN - 0022-3751
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7793.1999.0731s.x
Subject(s) - vomeronasal organ , laminar flow , pheromone , anatomy , biology , neuroscience , microbiology and biotechnology , physics , sensory system , ecology , mechanics
1 Responses of vomeronasal sensory neurons to urine excreted from rats, mice and hamsters were studied by the on‐cell patch clamp method in slices of sensory epithelium from female Wistar rats. 2 The urine excreted from male and female Wistar rats, male Donryu rats and male C57BL/6 mice induced relatively large responses, while urine from male Sprague‐Dawley rats and male Syrian hamsters induced small responses. 3 Of the 62 neurons responding to urine, 57 responded to only one of the urine preparations. 4 The sensory neurons that responded to the male Wistar urine were localized in the apical position of the epithelium where one type of GTP‐binding protein, G i2α , is selectively expressed. The neurons in the basal position of the epithelium, which express G oα , responded to urine from the other animals. 5 This study demonstrates that sensory neurons responsive to different urinary pheromones are localized in a segregated layer in the rat vomeronasal sensory epithelium.