James P. Sumner1, Der-Yow Chen1,
Stephen Dodd1, Elizabeth Wayne1,2, Yun Chen1,3,
Dragan Maric1, Alan P. Koretsky1
1National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, MD, United States; 2University of Pennsylvania, United
States; 3National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder,
CO, United States
In
the adult mammals, neural progenitor cells (NPCs) migrate to the olfactory
bulb and differentiate into neurons.
These cells are believed to be involved in processing olfactory
signals. Here we demonstrate that high
resolution MRI can be utilized to evaluate the affects of odor enrichment on
new neurons in the olfactory bulb with anatomical layer specificity. We found that amyl acetate enrichment
resulted in the accumulation of NPCs in the mitral cell layer. This in vivo method illustrates the
advantages of using high resolution anatomical imaging in combination with cell
tracking.