Dennis John C, Smith Timothy D, Bhatnagar Kunwar P, Bonar Christopher J, Burrows Anne M, Morrison Edward E
Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama 36849, USA.
Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2004 Nov;281(1):1190-200. doi: 10.1002/ar.a.20124.
Vomeronasal organ (VNO) morphology varies markedly across primate taxa. Old World monkeys display no postnatal VNO. Humans and at least some apes retain a vestigial VNO during postnatal life, whereas the strepsirrhines and New World Monkeys present a morphologically well-defined VNO that, in many species, is presumed to function as an olfactory organ. Available microanatomical and behavioral studies suggest that VNO function in these species does not precisely duplicate that described in other mammalian taxa. The questions of which species retain a functional VNO and what functions they serve require inquiry along diverse lines but, to be functional, the vomeronasal epithelium must be neuronal and olfactory. We used immunohistochemistry to establish these criteria in six primate species. We compared the expression of two neuronal markers, neuron-specific beta-tubulin (BT) and protein gene product 9.5, and olfactory marker protein (OMP), a marker of mature olfactory sensory neurons, in paraffin-embedded VNO sections from two strepsirrhine and four haplorhine species, all of which retain morphologically well-defined VNOs during postnatal life. The infant Eulemur mongoz, adult Otolemur crassicaudatus, neonatal Leontopithicus rosalia, and adult Callithrix jacchus express all three proteins in their well-defined vomeronasal neuroepithelia. The infant Tarsius syrichta showed some BT and OMP immunoreactivity. We establish that two strepsirrhine species and at least some New World haplorhines have mature sensory neurons in the VNO. In contrast, at all ages examined, Saguinus geoffroyi VNO expresses these markers in only a few cells.
犁鼻器（VNO）的形态在灵长类各分类群中差异显著。旧大陆猴出生后没有犁鼻器。人类和至少一些猿类在出生后保留着退化的犁鼻器，而原猴亚目和新大陆猴则有形态上明确的犁鼻器，在许多物种中，该器官被认为起到嗅觉器官的作用。现有的显微解剖学和行为学研究表明，这些物种中犁鼻器的功能与其他哺乳动物分类群中所描述的功能并不完全相同。哪些物种保留了功能性犁鼻器以及它们发挥何种功能的问题需要从多方面进行探究，但要具备功能，犁鼻上皮必须是神经源性且具有嗅觉功能的。我们运用免疫组织化学方法在六种灵长类物种中确立这些标准。我们比较了两种神经标志物（神经元特异性β-微管蛋白（BT）和蛋白基因产物9.5）以及嗅觉标志物蛋白（OMP，成熟嗅觉感觉神经元的标志物）在来自两种原猴亚目和四种类人猿亚目物种的石蜡包埋犁鼻器切片中的表达情况，所有这些物种在出生后都保留着形态上明确的犁鼻器。婴猴（Eulemur mongoz）、成年粗尾婴猴（Otolemur crassicaudatus）、新生罗莎莉绒毛蛛猴（Leontopithicus rosalia）和成年普通狨猴（Callithrix jacchus）在其形态明确的犁鼻神经上皮中均表达这三种蛋白。婴猴跗猴（Tarsius syrichta）显示出一些BT和OMP免疫反应性。我们确定两种原猴亚目物种和至少一些新大陆类人猿亚目物种的犁鼻器中有成熟的感觉神经元。相比之下，在所有检测的年龄段，黑冠松鼠猴（Saguinus geoffroyi）的犁鼻器仅在少数细胞中表达这些标志物。
