Transplants of olfactory mucosa in the anterior chamber of the eye: morphology, electrophysiology and biochemistry.

The olfactory mucosa from neonatal rats was transplanted into the anterior chamber of the eye. By 6-8 weeks after transplantation, morphological analysis showed the presence of olfactory sensory neurons in the grafts. The summated receptor potentials evoked by n-amyl acetate and camphor had the peak amplitude of about three times less and the duration of response of about 8-10 times more than those from normal olfactory epithelium. 6 h after beta-[3H]-alanine administration into the anterior chamber, more than 70% of the radioactivity was present in the carnosine fraction. This indicates that carnosine synthetase is present in the grafts. The presented data suggest that the grafts contain mature olfactory sensory neurons.