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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 1, 2002, 22(19):8429-8437

Arachidonic Acid Plays a Role in Rat Vomeronasal Signal Transduction

Marc Spehr, Hanns Hatt, and Christian H. Wetzel

Department of Cell Physiology, Ruhr-University Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany

Sensory neurons of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) detect volatile chemicals that are released by conspecific animals and convey information about social and reproductive behavior. The signal transduction pathway in vomeronasal receptor neurons (VRNs) is not known in detail, but is believed to be distinct from that of the sensory neurons of the main olfactory system. Many of the identified olfactory transduction components are not expressed by VRNs. Using Ca²⁺ imaging and electrophysiological recordings, we investigated the signal transduction pathway of urine perception and the possible role of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) as intracellular messengers in freshly dissociated rat VNO neurons. We found that application of urine induced a transient increase in intracellular Ca²⁺ that was dependent on the activity of phospholipase C and diacylglycerol (DAG) lipase. The Ca²⁺ transient was not dependent on depletion of intracellular Ca²⁺ stores but was dependent on the presence of extracellular Ca²⁺. Furthermore, the urine response was not sensitive to modulators of adenylate cyclase and inhibitors of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors. Application of PUFAs (linolenic acid and arachidonic acid, synthesized in living cells from DAG) also elicited Ca²⁺ transients in fura 2 measurements and inward currents in whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings. Pharmacological inhibition of lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase induced a transient increase in intracellular Ca²⁺, possibly by increasing the endogenous level of PUFAs, leading to activation of transduction channels. These data provide evidence for a role of PUFAs in rat vomeronasal signal transduction.

Key words: arachidonic acid; polyunsaturated fatty acids; PUFAs; signal transduction; calcium imaging; patch clamp; VNO; rat

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Copyright © 2002 Society for Neuroscience  0270-6474/02/22198429-09$05.00/0

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