Pig Olfaction

Figure 1. Drawing of pig VNO and naso-palatine duct (1),

Olfactory epithelium (2) and main olfactory bulb (3).

Figure 2. Drawing of OE, MOB and tracts departing the bulb.

		Glomeruli	Mitral cell nuclei
Sensory tracts extending from the olfactory epithelium to the glomeruli
	Lumen

40X magnification of pig main OB in cross section 100X magnification of pig OB Photomicrographs taken at Texas Tech University.

Saggital section of the pig olfactory bulb showing the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) (under low magnification) in the box and enlarged below (photo courtesy of Salazar). The AOB, like the MOB, has glomeruli and mitral cells.

Figure 3. Histological sections of pig olfactory bulb from Texas Tech University (above) and from the Salazar laboratory (Spain). Pigs were euthanized, their head perfused with 10% formalin and then the olfactory bulbs were isolated and placed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Bulbs were paraffin embedded and then sectioned. Sections were stained with hematoxilin and eosin.

OB = Olfactory bulb (main olfactory bulb); where primary olfactory receptors first synapse in the glomeruli; AOB = Accessory olfactory bulb; where vomeronasal organ sensory fibers synapse.

Multiple bands at ~55,000 Daltons

Figure 5. c-fos protein on Western blot using rabbit anti c-fos polyclonal antibody (Sigma Chemical). This antibody is purified rabbit IgG antibody against human c-fos peptide sequences 3-16 which are identical in pig, rat, and mouse c-fos. We show here, that in our laboratory, we can detect pig c-fos from pig olfactory bulb preparations. The polyclonal antibody binds at multiple sites at about 55,000

Daltons.

C

Figure 6. Activation of c-fos protein in main olfactory bulb mitral cells of the pig. (A) H/E staining shows morphology of mitral cells compared with (B) showing localization of c-fos protein in mitral cells, and (C) control slide showing lack of c-fos (no antibody but all other reagents were used). Note dark reaction product of c-fos protein in B that was bound by the specific rabbit-anti-pig c-fos. Magnification 250X. Photomicrographs from Texas Tech pilot studies.