Abstract

The glomeruli of the olfactory bulb of mammals are the primary coding elements of olfactory information. The excitation pattern produced by individual glomeruli in response to olfactory stimulation is stable and specific to certain odors. First of all, this is due to the structure of the neural circuits of the olfactory bulb. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that auxiliary cells of the nervous system—astrocytes—play a role in the organization of the primary processing of the olfactory signal. It is known that astrocytes not only have a direct effect on synaptic activity and plasticity, but coordinate the joint work of neuronal circuits and the vascular component, forming so-called “neuro-glio-vascular ensembles” as well. In this study, we carried out a morphological study of peripheral processes and gap junctions of astrocytes in order to study the structure of neuro-glio-vascular ensembles at the level of organization of the olfactory bulb glomeruli neuropil. The study showed that the main part of the astrocytic processes inside the glomeruli is located in the area of dendro-dendritic connections of the interneurons and projection neurons of the olfactory bulb, while in the zone of the primary switching of the olfactory signal, the astrocytic processes are practically absent. We also found a pronounced imbalance in the expression of the main astroglial connexins between the different functional poles of the neuro-glio-vascular ensembles of the olfactory bulb and the presence of heterotypic contacts formed by Cx30. The functional significance of the observed features of connexins expression in the olfactory bulb has yet to be studied.

中文翻译：

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大鼠嗅球肾小球中神经胶质-血管集合体的结构特征

摘要

哺乳动物嗅球的肾小球是嗅觉信息的主要编码元件。由单个肾小球响应嗅觉刺激产生的激发模式是稳定的，并且对某些气味具有特异性。首先，这是由于嗅球神经回路的结构所致。尽管如此，仍有理由相信神经系统的辅助细胞（星形细胞）在嗅觉信号的初级处理的组织中起着作用。众所周知，星形胶质细胞不仅对突触活性和可塑性有直接影响，而且还协调神经元回路和血管成分的联合作用，也形成所谓的“神经胶质-血管团”。在这个研究中，我们进行了星形胶质细胞周围过程和间隙连接的形态学研究，以研究嗅球小球神经绒毛组织中神经胶质-血管团的结构。研究表明，肾小球内部星形胶质细胞过程的主要部分位于嗅球的中间神经元和投射神经元的树突-树突连接区域，而在嗅觉信号的主要转换区域，星形胶质细胞几乎没有流程。我们还发现嗅球的神经胶质-血管团的不同功能极与Cx30形成的异型性接触之间主要星形胶质连接蛋白的表达存在明显的失衡。