Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 12, 976-988, Copyright © 1992 by Society for Neuroscience
Vital imaging of glomeruli in the mouse olfactory bulb
AS LaMantia, SL Pomeroy and D Purves
Department of Neurobiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710.
We have monitored the pattern of identified glomeruli in the olfactory
bulbs of newborn, juvenile, and adult mice over intervals of several hours
to several weeks. Our purpose was to assess the development and stability
of these complex units in the mammalian brain. Glomeruli can be observed by
vital fluorescent staining and laser-scanning confocal microscopy without
causing acute or long-term damage to brain tissue. Repeated observation of
bulbs in the same animals between birth and 3 weeks of age showed that this
region of the brain develops by progressive addition of these units to the
original population. This increment occurs by the genesis of smaller new
glomeruli between larger existing ones; no elimination of glomeruli was
observed during this process. Finally, no addition (or loss) of glomeruli
occurred in adult animals over a 2 week interval; once established, the
number, size, and pattern of glomeruli are evidently stable.
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