Electrophysiological analysis of mitral cells in the isolated turtle olfactory bulb

1. An in vitro preparation of the turtle olfactory bulb has been developed. Electrophysiological properties of mitral cells in the isolated bulb have been analysed with intracellular recordings. 2. Mitral cells have been driven antidromically from the lateral olfactory tract, or activated directly by current injection. Intracellular injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP) show that turtle mitral cells have long secondary dendrites that extend up to 1800 micrometer from the cell body and reach around half of the bulbar circumference. There are characteristically two primary dendrites, each supplying separate olfactory glomeruli. 3. Using intracellular current pulses, the whole-neurone resistance was found to range from 33 to 107 M omega. The whole-neurone charging transient had a slow time course. The membrane time constant was estimated to be 24-93 msec by the methods of Rall. The electrotonic length of the mitral cell equivalent cylinder was estimated by Rall's methods to be 0.9-1.9. 4. The spikes generated by turtle mitral cells were only partially blocked by tetrodotoxin (TTX) in the bathing medium. The TTX-resistant spikes were enhanced in the presence of tetraethylammonium (TEA), and blocked completely by cobalt. 5. The implications of the electrical properties for impulse generation in turtle mitral cells are discussed. The mitral cells have dendrodendritic synapses onto granule cells, and the TTX-resistant spikes may therefore play an important role in presynaptic transmitter release at these synapses.