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Retinoic Acid Receptor-Dependent Survival of Olfactory Sensory Neurons in Postnatal and Adult Mice

Authors :
Jörg Strotmann
Maria Hägglund
Anna Berghard
Staffan Bohm
Source :
The Journal of Neuroscience. 26:3281-3291
Publication Year :
2006
Publisher :
Society for Neuroscience, 2006.

Abstract

To address the hypothesis that retinoids produced by synthesizing enzymes present in the primary olfactory system influence the mouse olfactory sensory map, we expressed a dominant-negative retinoic acid receptor selectively in olfactory sensory neurons. We show that neurons deficient in nuclear retinoid signaling are responsive to odors and form correct odorant receptor-specific axonal projections to target neurons in the olfactory bulb of the brain. Subsequent to the formation of the map, the neurons die prematurely by retrograde-driven caspase-3 activation, which resembles the previously described mechanism of neural death after olfactory bulb ablation. This neurodegenerative event is initiated the second postnatal week and occurs in the adult animal without a compensatory increase of progenitor cell proliferation. In addition, we find that nuclear retinoid signaling is required for the expression of a retinoic acid-degrading enzyme, Cyp26B1, in a small fraction of mature neurons. Collectively, the results provide evidence for a role of locally regulated retinoid metabolism in neuroprotection and in determining population size of neurons at a late stage of neural circuit formation.

Details

ISSN :
15292401 and 02706474
Volume :
26
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
The Journal of Neuroscience
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....de50ea96bbdaa933a49789b94274e00c
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.4955-05.2006