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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Whole Mount Labeling of Cilia in the Main Olfactory System of Mice
Published on: December 27, 2014
Coupling between sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium
Rona J Delay1, Vincent E Dionne
1Department of Biology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405, USA.
Abstract:
Coupling of olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) in the olfactory epithelium of Necturus maculosus was demonstrated by dye-transfer with Lucifer yellow CH; however, the incidence of dye-transfer was low. Immunocytochemistry and Western blot analysis indicated that connexin 43, a gap junction channel subunit, was widely expressed by cells in the olfactory epithelium. Electrical coupling by presumptive gap junctions was assessed using electrophysiological recordings, heptanol block, tracer-uptake through hemi-junctions, and tracer-injection into tissue whole-mounts. Coupling, which involved pairs of OSNs only, was detected in approximately 3-10% of the OSN population; there was no evidence that OSNs were coupled into extended neural syncitia. These results suggest that coupling of OSNs by gap junctions is unlikely to have a general role in olfactory responses by mature (odor responsive) OSNs. Instead, the incidence of inter-neuronal coupling was small, similar to the fraction of immature OSNs, suggesting a possible role of gap junctions in the continual turnover and development of OSNs or possibly their senescence.
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