TrkA expression in mouse olfactory tract following axotomy of olfactory nerves

The olfactory bulb is one of the brain regions that synthesizes the nerve growth factor (NGF). Functional roles of the bulbar NGF remain to be determined. The aim of the present study was, using an antibody specific to the high-affinity NGF receptor (trkA), to examine immunohistochemically the distribution of the NGF receptor in the mouse olfactory tract, under normal conditions and during regenerative processes. In normal mouse olfactory epithelia, trkA immunoreactive cell bodies were only seen in basal cells. Cell bodies of olfactory receptor cells did not express trkA immunoreactivity, but their neuronal processes (olfactory nerve fibres and bundles in the olfactory mucosa and the olfactory bulb) displayed trkA immunoreactivity. After axotomy of olfactory nerves, regenerating olfactory cells (basal cells and olfactory receptor cells) expressed trkA immunoreactivity in intramucosal and intrabulbar neuronal processes of olfactory receptor cells. These results suggest involvement of the bulbar NGF in the process of synaptogenesis and/or regeneration of the olfactory nervous system.