Nakamuta Shoko, Yokosuka Makoto, Taniguchi Kazumi, Yamamoto Yoshio, Nakamuta Nobuaki
Laboratory of Veterinary Anatomy, Iwate University, 3-18-8 Ueda, Morioka, Iwate 020-8550, Japan.
J Vet Med Sci. 2016 Feb;78(2):245-50. doi: 10.1292/jvms.15-0359. Epub 2015 Oct 5.
In turtles, the epithelia lining the upper and lower chambers of the nasal cavity project axons to the ventral and dorsal parts of the olfactory bulbs, respectively. In a semi-aquatic soft-shelled turtle, Pelodiscus sinensis, more than 1,000 odorant receptor genes have been found, but it is not known where they are expressed. In this study, we aimed to clarify the distribution of cells expressing these genes in the olfactory organs of soft-shelled turtles. Immunoreactions for the Gαolf, the α subunit of G protein coupled to the odorant receptors, were detected on the surface of epithelia lining both the upper and lower chambers of the nasal cavity. The receptor cells in the epithelium of both chambers possessed cilia on the tip of their dendrites, whereas microvillous, non-ciliated, receptor cells were not found. These data suggest that the odorant receptor genes are expressed by the ciliated receptor cells in the upper and lower chamber epithelia. Precise location of the vomeronasal epithelium is not known at present.
在龟类中，鼻腔上下腔的上皮细胞分别向嗅球的腹侧和背侧投射轴突。在半水生的中华鳖中，已发现1000多个嗅觉受体基因，但它们的表达位置尚不清楚。在本研究中，我们旨在阐明这些基因在中华鳖嗅觉器官中表达细胞的分布情况。在鼻腔上下腔的上皮表面检测到了与嗅觉受体偶联的G蛋白α亚基Gαolf的免疫反应。两个腔室上皮中的受体细胞在其树突尖端都有纤毛，而未发现微绒毛、无纤毛的受体细胞。这些数据表明，嗅觉受体基因由上下腔室上皮中的纤毛受体细胞表达。目前，犁鼻器上皮的精确位置尚不清楚。
