Structure and function of long-lived olfactory organotypic cultures from postnatal mice.

The first synapse in the olfactory pathway mediates a significant transfer of information given the restricted association of specific olfactory receptor neurons with specific glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. To understand better how this connection is made and what the functional capacities of the participating cells are, we created a long-lived culture system composed of olfactory epithelium and olfactory bulb tissues. Using the roller tube method of culturing, we grew epithelium-bulb cocultures, explanted from 1-4-day-old Swiss Webster mice, on Aclar for periods ranging from 18 hr to 68 days. The explants flattened so that in some areas the culture was only a few cells thick, making individual cells distinguishable. From 107 cultures studied, we identified the following cell types by expression of specific markers (oldest culture expressing marker, days in vitro, DIV): olfactory receptor neurons (neural cell adhesion molecule, 42 DIV); mature receptor neurons (olfactory marker protein, 28 DIV); postmitotic olfactory receptor neurons and olfactory bulb neurons (beta-tubulin, 68 DIV); astrocytes (glial fibrillary acidic protein, glutamate/aspartate transporter, 68 DIV); olfactory horizontal basal cells (cytokeratin, 22 DIV). Neuronal processes formed glomeruli in 2-4-week-old cultures. We also recorded electro-olfactography responses to puffs of vapor collected over an odorant mixture containing ethyl butyrate, eugenol, (+) carvone, and (-) carvone from cultures as old as 21 DIV. These features of our olfactory culture system make this model useful for studying properties of immature and mature olfactory receptor neurons, pathfinding strategies of receptor axons, and mechanisms of information transfer in the olfactory glomerulus.