Chemical Senses Advance Access published online on June 7, 2007
Chemical Senses, doi:10.1093/chemse/bjm032
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Expression of Trace Amine–Associated Receptors in the Grueneberg Ganglion
Institute of Physiology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Correspondence to be sent to: Heinz Breer, University of Hohenheim, Institute of Physiology, Garbenstrasse 30, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany. e-mail: breer{at}uni-hohenheim.de
 |
Abstract |
|---|
The Grueneberg ganglion (GG) in the vestibule of the anterior nasal cavity is considered as an olfactory subcompartment based on expression of the olfactory marker protein (OMP) and axonal projection to the olfactory bulb. Searching for olfactory receptors present in the GG, it has been observed recently that V2r83, a member of the V2R class of olfactory receptors, is expressed in numerous cells in the GG of mice. However, no other olfactory receptors have been found to be present in a considerable number of GG neurons so far. Here, we report that GG neurons express trace amine–associated receptors (TAARs) that have most recently been described as a novel class of olfactory receptors. It was observed that several TAAR subtypes are expressed by defined subpopulations of GG neurons distinct from the V2r83-positive cells. Analyzing the time course of TAAR expression during pre- and postnatal development revealed that TAARs are expressed by a substantial portion of GG neurons in late embryonic and neonatal stages, whereas in juveniles and adults, the number of TAAR-positive cells in the GG was significantly decreased.
Key words: G protein, olfaction, TAAR, vomeronasal receptor
Accepted 4 April 2007