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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

The Olfactory System as a Model to Study Axonal Growth Patterns and Morphology In Vivo
Published on: October 30, 2014
Regarding several points of doubt of the structure of the olfactory bulb: as described by T. Blanes
Catherine Levine1, Alexander Marcillo
1The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida 33136, USA. clevine@med.miami.edu
Abstract:
In order to complement the studies on the fila olfactoria completed by Dr. Santiago Ramón y Cajal, we have included a translation of "Sobre Algunos Puntos Dudosos de la Estructura del Bulbo Olfatorio" by T. Blanes, a student of Dr. Cajal. This work describes in stunning detail additional morphological aspects of the olfactory pathway, including what was at the time the modestly studied neuroglia. The neuroglia of the olfactory system has been revisited in the last several decades for its importance in the field of regenerative neuroscience. Olfactory ensheathing glia has the unique quality of providing ensheathment to neurons which traverse from the central to the peripheral nervous system and are being used as a candidate in present-day transplantation studies to mimic this phenomenon at the dorsal root entry zone after a central nervous system injury. Although this fine work has passed its centennial anniversary since initial publication, it has been widely cited throughout the years, and of recent when Pressler and Stowbridge reported Blanes cell electrophysiological recordings (Neuron V 49, 6; p 889-904, 2006). An English translation the details of what Blanes initially documented with unduplicated precision can now be made available to a wider audience in the field of neuroscience, and is especially important now that more and more present-day studies require a precise and complete understanding of the anatomical structures contained within the olfactory system.
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