Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Delay, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Dionne, V. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Delay, R. J.
Right arrow Articles by Dionne, V. E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Chem. Senses 28: 807-815, 2003
© Oxford University Press 2003

Coupling between Sensory Neurons in the Olfactory Epithelium

Rona J. Delay1 and Vincent E. Dionne2

1 Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA 2 Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA

Correspondence to be sent to: Dr Vincent E. Dionne, Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. e-mail: vdionne@bu.edu

Coupling of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the olfactory epithelium of Necturus maculosus was demonstrated by dye-transfer with Lucifer yellow CH; however, the incidence of dye-transfer was low. Immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis indicated that connexin 43, a gap junction channel subunit, was widely expressed by cells in the olfactory epithelium. Electrical coupling by presumptive gap junctions was assessed using electrophysiological recordings, heptanol block, tracer-uptake through hemi-junctions, and tracer-injection into tissue whole-mounts. Coupling, which involved pairs of OSNs only, was detected in ~3–10% of the OSN population; there was no evidence that OSNs were coupled into extended neural syncitia. These results suggest that coupling of OSNs by gap junctions is unlikely to have a general role in olfactory responses by mature (odor responsive) OSNs. Instead, the incidence of inter-neuronal coupling was small, similar to the fraction of immature OSNs, suggesting a possible role of gap junctions in the continual turnover and development of OSNs or possibly their senescence.

Key words: coupling, dye transfer, gap junction, olfactory epithelium, OSNs


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.