Metabolic mapping of functional activity in the olfactory projections of the rat: ontogenetic study

An ontogenetic study of the uptake of [14C]2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) within the direct olfactory bulb projections and the tertiary olfactory projections was performed on rats of 1, 9 and 21 days old. Animals were exposed either to ethyl acetoacetate or to nest odor. In newborns, most of the direct olfactory bulb projections - anterior olfactory nucleus, anterior part of the olfactory tubercle, piriform cortex and nucleus of the lateral olfactory tract - appear labelled on films and therefore seem functional. No evidence of 2-DG uptake can be brought out in the cortical amygdala nucleus. AS regards the tertiary olfactory projections, there is no apparent functional activity, neither in the medio-dorsal and medio-ventral thalamic nuclei nor in the hypothalamic nuclei, e.g. the lateral preoptic area and the lateral hypothalamus. In 9-day-old pups, the direct olfactory bulb projections and the tertiary olfactory projections appear well-contrasted. Moreover, the patterns of labelling within the direct olfactory bulb projections are comparable to those observed in 21-day-old rats and in adult. These data are correlated with the postnatal development of the discriminating ability of the rat.