Embryonic and postnatal development of mouse olfactory tubercle

Publication date: Available online 11 June 2019Source: Molecular and Cellular NeuroscienceAuthor(s): Eduardo Martin-Lopez, Christine Xu, Teresa Liberia, Sarah J. Meller, Charles A. GreerAbstractThe olfactory tubercle (OT) is located in the ventral-medial region of the brain where it receives primary input from olfactory bulb (OB) projection neurons and processes olfactory behaviors related to motivation, hedonics of smell and sexual encounters. The OT is part of the dopamine reward system that shares characteristics with the striatum. Together with the nucleus accumbens, the OT has been referred to as the “ventral striatum”. However, despite its functional importance little is known about the embryonic development of the OT and the phenotypic properties of the OT cells. Here, using thymidine analogs, we establish that mouse OT neurogenesis occurs predominantly between E11-E15 in a lateral-to-medial gradient. Then, using a piggyBac multicolor technique we characterized the migratory route of OT neuroblasts from their embryonic point of origin. Following neurogenesis in the ventral lateral ganglionic eminence (vLGE), neuroblasts destined for the OT followed a dorsal-ventral pathway we named “ventral migratory course" (VMC). Upon reaching the nascent OT, neurons established a prototypical laminar distribution that was determined, in part, by the progenitor cell of origin. A phenotypic analysis of OT neuroblasts using a single-color piggyBac technique, showed that OT shared...
Source: Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research