Figure 1.

Brief sensory deprivation in neonatal rats does not affect cellular dynamics in the olfactory bulb. A, Confirming the effectiveness of our naris occlusion procedure, an extreme example of olfactory bulb atrophy is illustrated after a naris occlusion (left bulb, intact; right bulb, occluded) lasting nearly 2 months (P2 to P60). B, Low-magnification confocal images of Hoescht 33342-labeled control (Ctl) and occluded (Occ) olfactory bulb slices (80 μm) from a rat after a shorter unilateral naris occlusion paradigm from P2 to P16. Fourteen-day olfactory deprivation did not affect the mean area of glomeruli (n = 15 rats) (see Results). C, Confocal images of the GCL and GL of an olfactory bulb slice triple-labeled with Hoescht 33342 (blue), an antibody against BrdU (green), and an antibody against cleaved caspase-3 (red). The area of interest (white-square) in the periglomerular region is shown at higher magnification (right). D, Fourteen-day olfactory deprivation did not affect the density of BrdU-positive cells in animals injected with BrdU on the day of occlusion (left; n = 8 rats) or cells positive for cleaved caspase-3 (right; n = 11 rats) in either the GL or GCL.