Olfactory bulb transplants establish afferent and efferent connections with host forebrain in rat

Abstract

We are using wheat germ agglutinin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase (WIiRP) to study reconnectivity in the transplanted (TX) olfactory bulb (OB) in Sprague-Dawley rats. Tritium-labeled OBs from fetal rat donors of Embryonic Days 14–15 were immediately grafted into neonatal rats in the site from which the host OB had been removed. Following survival times of 7 weeks and longer, WHRP solution was injected into the TX OB, and subjects were perfused after 24 h. The WHRP transport is seen in fibers from the TX OB into layer I of the host olfactory peduncle (OP) and olfactory cortex (OC) and in cell bodies in layers II and III of the OP and OC, the lateral hypothalamus, and the contralateral anterior olfactory nucleus (AON). These findings reaffirm that the axons from a TX OB make connections with some appropriate areas of the host brain and also indicate that axons from cells in the target areas of the host brain, including contralateral AON, reinnervate the TX OB.