title: Isolation and in vitro differentiation of conditionally immortalized murine olfactory receptor neurons.
abstract: Two major challenges exist in our understanding of the olfactory system. One concerns the enormous combinatorial code underlying odorant discrimination by odorant receptors. The other relates to neurogenesis and neuronal development in the olfactory epithelium. To address these issues, continuous cell cultures containing olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) were obtained from olfactory epithelia of H-2K(b)-tsA58 transgenic mice. ORNs were detected and characterized by immunocytochemistry, RT-PCR, and Western blot for the markers Galpha(olf), adenylyl cyclase III, the olfactory cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunits, and olfactory marker protein. In culture, epidermal growth factor and nerve growth factor stimulated proliferation, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor and neurotrophin-3 induced cellular maturation. Clonal cell lines were isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting with anti-neural cell adhesion molecule antibodies, and of 144 single cells plated, 39 clones were expanded, propagated, and stored in liquid nitrogen. All attempts at recovery of clonal lines from frozen stocks have been successful. The most thoroughly characterized clone, 3NA12, expressed ORN markers and responded to stimulation by single odorants. Each odorant activated approximately 1% of cells in a clonal line, and this suggests that many different odorant receptors may be expressed by these clonal cells. Therefore, these cell lines and the method by which they have been obtained represent a significant advance in the generation of olfactory cell cultures and provide a system to investigate odorant coding and olfactory neurogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Neuroscience and Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. rdbarber@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Jaworsky
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Yau
authors.forename: G V
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Ronnett
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000032:analysis; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000235:genetics; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000494:pharmacology; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000032:analysis; D020933:Neurotrophin 3 / Q000494:pharmacology; D009812:Odorants; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics; D014404:Tubulin / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D020933:Neurotrophin 3; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D014404:Tubulin; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D007371:Interferon-gamma; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor; D002118:Calcium