Abstract
We have developed procedures that permit isolation and propagation of clonal cell cultures from the olfactory epithelium of the 5- to 7-day-old rat that appear to represent the neuroblasts that repopulate the sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium throughout life. The cell lines we report here synthesize neuron-specific enolase, which is a neuron marker, 43-kDa growth-associated protein, a protein associated with neuronal growth cones, and carnosine, a possible olfactory neurotransmitter. In two of the cell lines we have found dose-dependent cAMP accumulation following exposure to submicromolar concentrations of chemical odorants in the medium. These two cell lines show different patterns of odorant specificity when tested against a panel of six chemicals commonly used as test odorants. We anticipate that these and similarly derived cell lines will prove valuable in studying aspects of neurogenesis and olfaction.