Olfaction provides critical information to the very young. Olfactory cues guide neonates to feed and permit siblings to be recognized from other conspecifics. Imprinting on maternal or environmental cues occurs early in life when the olfactory system is rapidly developing. Numerous, anatomical, immunocytochemical and molecular genetic studies have advanced out understanding of the changes occurring during early development. Physiological studies, using activity dependent markers, have demonstrated the essential roles of the olfactory bulb and higher olfactory centers in preference learning and imprinting. There is, however, little information about the basic physiological development of the olfactory epithelium or the changes that might occur during preference learning or imprinting. We propose to functionally characterize the developing olfactory epithelium of the zebrafish using conventional electrophysiological and calcium imaging methods and a novel activity-dependent immunolabeling technique. This emerging developmental model was selected because it breeds year- round, fertilization and development occur externally and rapidly and large numbers of time-staged embryos can be maintained.
Our first aim i s to determine when after fertilization the voltage, calcium and second messenger-gated currents required to transduce an odorant-binding event into an action potential develop. Our second and third aims characterize the temporal development of odor sensitivity and the spatial distribution of odor-stimulated olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). Odor-stimulated ORNs will be labeled with an ion channel permeant probe, 1-amino-4- guanidobutane (AGB), and anti-AGB IgG antibodies. Complementary electrophysiological and calcium imaging studied will characterize the response properties of developing ORNs in situ and individually.
The final aim i s to determine the role odor environment play in the functional development of the olfactory epithelium. The studies proposed will help identify the critical periods in the functional development of the olfactory epithelium and may provide insight into the relative roles of environment versus programmed genetic events in normal developmental processes.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DC001418-11
Application #
6516108
Study Section
Sensory Disorders and Language Study Section (CMS)
Program Officer
Davis, Barry
Project Start
1992-01-01
Project End
2005-06-30
Budget Start
2002-07-01
Budget End
2005-06-30
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
$192,342
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Utah
Department
Physiology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
City
Salt Lake City
State
UT
Country
United States
Zip Code
84112
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Edwards, Jeffrey G; Greig, Ann; Sakata, Yoko et al. (2007) Cholinergic innervation of the zebrafish olfactory bulb. J Comp Neurol 504:631-45
Sakata, Yoko; Olson, Jared K; Michel, William C (2003) Assessment of neuronal maturation and acquisition of functional competence in the developing zebrafish olfactory system. Methods Cell Sci 25:39-48
Edwards, J G; Michel, W C (2003) Pharmacological characterization of ionotropic glutamate receptors in the zebrafish olfactory bulb. Neuroscience 122:1037-47
Edwards, Jeffrey G; Michel, William C (2002) Odor-stimulated glutamatergic neurotransmission in the zebrafish olfactory bulb. J Comp Neurol 454:294-309
Michel, W C (1999) Cyclic nucleotide-gated channel activation is not required for activity-dependent labeling of zebrafish olfactory receptor neurons by amino acids. Biol Signals Recept 8:338-47