Connections of the olfactory bulb in the chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha).

This report describes the connections of the olfactory bulb in juvenile chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) as revealed by the retrograde and anterograde transport of biotinylated dextran amine (BDA). Pressure injections of BDA to discrete locations within the bulb reveal that the olfactory bulb projects via medial and lateral tracts to various regions of the dorsal and ventral telencephalon as well as to the diencephalon. Terminal-like boutons are present in the ventral, dorsal, lateral and supracommissural nuclei of the ventral telencephalon and in the lateral-ventral and posterior zones of the dorsal telencephalon. There is also a projection to the nucleus taenia and to the contralateral olfactory bulb. A diencephalic terminal field occurs in the posterior tuberal region of the ventral diencephalon. Olfactory bulb fibers in the preoptic region have axonal varicosities near neurons containing releasing hormones. A synaptic connection is suggested allowing for the possibility that output from the olfactory bulb may directly modulate the activity of these neurons. Telencephalic injections of BDA are used to determine the origins of olfactory bulb efferents. Neurons are retrogradely labeled by BDA in a Golgi-like manner, allowing one to visualize the morphology of olfactory bulb efferents. Three types of neurons in the bulb are filled by injections into the posterior zone of the dorsal telencephalon: mitral cells and ruffed cells in the external cellular layer, and neurons in the internal cellular layer. Although it has been known that both mitral cells and neurons in the internal cellular layer project out of the bulb in teleosts, the use of BDA allowed for an accurate description of the morphology of these extrinsically projecting neurons. This is the first evidence that the ruffed cells in salmon project out of the bulb. The results of this study suggest that the secondary olfactory projections in chinook salmon are consistent with those in other teleosts with minor variations. The data also show that olfactory bulb efferents originate not solely from mitral cells in the external cellular layer but also from ruffed cells in the external cellular layer and neurons in the internal cellular layer. It is proposed that the extrinsically projecting neurons in the internal cellular layer constitute an anterior olfactory nucleus in salmon.