title: Transplantation of postnatal vomeronasal organ in the CNS of newborn rats.
abstract: The present study was conducted to examine the survival and development of intracerebral transplanted neonatal rat vomeronasal organs (VNs). Complete neonatal (P5-P10) VNs were transplanted into the parietal cortex region of littermates and examined at 10-100 days by light microscopy. The VN survived and was organized into a series of vesicles lined by respiratory and/or sensory epithelia. Sensory neurons grew long axons that fasciculated and invaded the surrounding brain parenchyma. The newly developed axons did not prefer a specific brain region. The axons developed a complex fiber plexus either at the interface between transplant and host tissue or deep within the host brain parenchyma. Vomeronasal axons consistently formed glomerular-like structures within the fiber plexus. Our results suggest that glomerular formation is not dependent on specific target of length of axon development, but rather on a set of complementary axons that display mutual recognition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Histology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, AL 36849-5518, USA.
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Graziadei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001369:Axons / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002540:Cerebral Cortex; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009297:Nasal Mucosa / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000637:transplantation*; D009300:Nasal Septum / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000637:transplantation*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016042:Transplantation, Heterotopic