An electrophysiological study of the accessory olfactory bulb in the rabbit--II. Input-output relations as assessed from analysis of intra- and extracellular unit recordings.

The input-output relations of the rabbit accessory olfactory bulb were studied by intra- and extracellular single unit recordings following electrical stimulation of the vomeronasal nerves, the lateral olfactory tract and the corticomedial amygdala. Cellular activity of accessory bulb mitral cells evoked by stimulation of the vomeronasal nerves consisted of a brief excitation with a latency of 16 ms. This initial response was followed by a period of reduced firing probability which was due to an inhibitory postsynaptic potential. In many cases this secondary response was followed by a second excitatory postsynaptic potential on which action potentials were generated at higher stimulus intensities. Deeper cells in the granule cell layer responded with a long latency, long duration, excitation, often consisting of bursts of 2-3 spikes. The majority of mitral cells were antidromically invaded by amygdala stimulation. The latencies of the antidromic spikes showed a wide range of variation (12-80 ms). Due to this great variation in antidromic latency the inhibitory postsynaptic potential following the antidromic action potential was rather modest but prolonged in duration. In many cases the onset of the inhibitory postsynaptic potential preceded the antidromic response. The majority of cells did not respond to lateral olfactory tract stimulation. Only 10% of the tested cells were invaded antidromically by stimulation at this site. These neurons were also driven antidromically by amygdala stimulation. We conclude that, although the physiological characteristics of mitral cells of the main and accessory olfactory bulb are very similar, there are important differences. The efferent fibres of the accessory bulb conduct at very slow and variable rates and project directly to the corticomedial amygdala.