Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 7, 3029-3039, Copyright © 1987 by Society for Neuroscience
Serotonergic afferents to the rat olfactory bulb: II. Changes in fiber distribution during development
JH McLean and MT Shipley
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio 45267.
The present studies have defined the developmental time course and
distribution patterns of serotonergic fibers in the main olfactory bulb
(MOB) using immunocytochemistry, anterograde tracing and image analysis.
The results indicate that the deployment of serotonergic fibers to the main
olfactory bulb is essentially a postnatal event in the rat. During the
first 4 d after birth, 5-HT fibers infiltrate and begin to arborize in the
MOB. The density of fibers in each layer is sparse during this period, but
increases rapidly. By postnatal day 8 all layers are much more heavily
innervated by 5-HT fibers. The surge of fiber growth into all layers is
rapid; the fibers arborize earlier at caudal than at rostral levels. This
may be related to the increased metabolic activity that is reported to
occur selectively in the caudal parts of the immature olfactory bulb. After
the second postnatal week, 5-HT fiber density increases much more gradually
in all layers except the glomerular layer; in the glomerular layer, 5-HT
fiber density continues to increase rapidly. It is also during this time
that the olfactory bulb begins to grow substantially in volume. Bulb volume
increases from the second week into adulthood (greater than 60 d); during
the same period, the density of 5-HT remains relatively constant in the
infraglomerular layers. Thus, from the second week onward, the growth of
5-HT fibers appears to be closely linked to the increasing volumes of these
layers. The density of 5-HT fibers in the glomerular layer, however,
continues to increase from the second postnatal week. Thus, the density of
fibers in the glomerular layer increases more than the increase in
glomerular size, indicating that the glomerular 5-HT fibers are
proliferating more than could be accounted for by simple glomerular
expansion. In the adult, 5-HT fibers are 2-3 times denser in the glomerular
than the infraglomerular layers (McLean and Shipley, 1987). This
preferential innervation of glomeruli may be the result of a protracted
period of arborization by glomerular versus infraglomerular fibers. This
could be due to the prolonged focal release of a trophic factor by
glomerular-associated neurons or to the earlier production of an inhibitory
factor by infraglomerular neurons.