Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904, USA.
J Comp Neurol. 2010 May 1;518(9):1603-16. doi: 10.1002/cne.22293.
The anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) occupies a crucial position within the olfactory circuit, as it is able to influence function in nearly every major synaptic processing stage of both the ipsilateral and the contralateral pathways. Nevertheless, very little is known about the region's internal organization and circuitry. The present study provides basic quantitative and qualitative data on the morphology of several cell types within the two major regions of the AON, pars externa and pars principalis. In pars externa two types of cells are analyzed, the "classical" cell (type I), containing only apically directed dendrites with large spines, and a previously unreported cell with basilar dendrites and complex, spiny apical processes (type II). In pars principalis the characteristic pyramidal cell is described both on the basis of the depth of the cell bodies in the cell layer comprising the structure and on the basis of their radial location. Several other nonpyramidal neurons are also described. The findings provide useful basic information necessary for understanding and modeling the circuitry of the AON.
前嗅核（AON）在嗅觉回路中占据关键位置，因为它能够影响同侧和对侧通路上几乎所有主要的突触处理阶段的功能。然而，关于该区域的内部组织和回路，人们知之甚少。本研究提供了关于 AON 两个主要区域（外区和主区）内几种细胞类型的形态学的基本定量和定性数据。在外区分析了两种类型的细胞，即“经典”细胞（I 型），仅含有指向顶端的树突和大棘突，以及一种以前未报道的具有基底树突和复杂棘突顶突的细胞（II 型）。在主区内，根据构成结构的细胞层中细胞体的深度以及它们的径向位置，描述了特征性的锥体细胞。还描述了其他几种非锥体细胞。这些发现为理解和建模 AON 的电路提供了有用的基本信息。
