Abstract
Olfaction is critical for survival in neonatal mammals. However, little is known about the neural substrate for this ability as few studies of synaptic development in several olfactory processing regions have been reported. Odor information detected in the nasal cavity is first processed by the olfactory bulb and then sent via the lateral olfactory tract to a series of olfactory cortical areas. The first of these, the anterior olfactory nucleus pars principalis (AONpP), is a simple, two layered cortex with an outer plexiform and inner cell zone (Layers 1 and 2, respectively). Five sets of studies examined age-related changes in the AONpP. First, immunocytochemistry for glutamatergic (VGlut1 and VGlut2) and GABAergic (VGAT) synapses demonstrated that overall synaptic patterns remained uniform with age. The second set quantified synaptic development with electron microscopy and found different developmental patterns between Layers 1 and 2. As many of the interhemispheric connections in the olfactory system arise from AONpP, the third set examined the development of crossed projections using anterograde tracers and electron microscopy to explore the maturation of this pathway. A fourth study examined ontogenetic changes in immunostaining for the proteoglycans aggrecan and brevican, markers of mesh-like extracellular structures known as perineuronal nets whose maturation is associated with the end of early critical periods of synaptogenesis. A final study found no age-related changes in the density of vasculature in the peduncle from P5 to P30. This work is among the first to examine early postnatal changes in this initial cortical region of the olfactory system.