Snapshots in Neuroscience: Mitral and Tufted Cells

These images have been selected to showcase the art that neuroscience research can create.

As described by the authors: “Highlighted in yellowish white are the principal neurons of the adult mouse olfactory bulb, mitral and tufted cells. Their somas are mostly aligned, with large apical dendrites extending upward toward the glomerular layer. In this layer, mitral and tufted cells receive inputs from olfactory sensory neurons in the nose, as well as from a diverse array of local interneurons. Among these interneurons in the glomerular layer, dopaminergic interneurons are stained and pseudo-colored cyan.

“In our study, we explored the diversity of olfactory bulb mitral and tufted cells. Traditionally either grouped together or considered fully distinct based on physiology and connectivity, our findings challenge this binary classification, revealing instead a continuum of morphological and functional properties. The variability in size, shape, and soma location that we discovered supports our overall hypothesis that mitral and tufted cells contribute to odor processing in a more nuanced and flexible manner than previously thought, leveraging their diversity to efficiently encode a wide range of sensory inputs.

“The image was acquired with a laser scanning confocal microscope (Carl Zeiss LSM 900) using appropriate excitation and emission filters, a pinhole of 1 AU, and a 20x 0.8NA air objective. Mitral and tufted cells are stained with SMI-32, an antibody for non-phosphorylated neurofilament H (SMI-32; BioLegend; 1:1,000). Dopaminergic interneurons in the glomerular layer were stained by targeting tyrosine hydroxylase (TH; rabbit, Sigma Millipore AB152, 1:500).”

Confocal microscopic image of fixed adult mouse olfactory bulb tissue. Shown in off-white are olfactory bulb principal neurons. Dopaminergic interneurons are pseudo-colored cyan to indicate the location of olfactory glomeruli. Image credit: Li Huang and Elisa Galliano.

Read the full article:

Ex Vivo Functional Characterization of Mouse Olfactory Bulb Projection Neurons Reveals a Heterogeneous Continuum
Sana Gadiwalla, Chloé Guillaume, Li Huang, Samuel J. B. White, Nihal Basha, Pétur Henry Petersen, and Elisa Galliano