Most terrestrial vertebrates possess several nasal chemoreceptive systems including the olfactory and vomeronasal systems. The major focus of interest in this laboratory is to understand the structure and functional significance of the vomeronasal (VN) system and to contrast it to the main olfactory system (MOS). Among our early contributions was the demonstration of the dynamic nature of the snake's VN epithelium and its capacity for regeneration following degeneration.
Our behavioral studies have demonstrated the critical importance of the garter snake VN system in prey attack, prey extract attack, prey extract trailing, aggregation and male courtship of attractive females. We have also demonstrated that stimulation of the VN system is intrinsically rewarding to snakes. At this time we are investigating the role of the various brain structures that form part of the circuitry for tongue flicking on tongue response to chemical stimuli.
One of the central concerns in chemosensory science is understanding the mechanism of sensory transduction. The bias, at present, is to look for receptor proteins on membranes of receptor cells. We have isolated and characterized a number of proteins from prey (earthworm) products that are vomeronasally mediated chemoattractants for snakes. Among these proteins is a 20 kDa glycoprotein that binds specifically to VN receptor membranes and induces changes in second messenger systems in VN receptor cells.The major second messenger system used by the vomeronasal receptor cells of snakes is inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate. Currently we are investigating the role of calcium release in the signal transduction process.
Electrophysiological studies have, using single unit extracellular recording from mitral cells in the accessory olfactory bulb or main olfactory bulb, demonstrated that prey extracts delivered to the VN epithelium as liquids activate the VN system, but similar extracts delivered as air streams do not. Conversely, prey extracts delivered as air streams to the MO epithelium activate the MOS, but similar extracts delivered as liquids do not.
We have studied the development and organization of the VNS in the South American grey short-tailed opossum, Monodelphis domestica. The accessory olfactory bulb is heterogeneous with respect to a number of markers and it appears that the receptor cells in the VN epithelium are similarly heterogeneous. We have found that there are at least two parallel VN pathways from periphery to the brain, and that these parallel pathways extend more centrally into the amygdala. We are now studying the functional correlates of these parallel pathways.
LABORATORY MEMBERS
Ping Chen, Technical Specialist, Tel 1260
Mimi Halpern, Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Tel 2416
Changping Jia, Research Assistant Professor Anatomy and Cell Biology, Tel 1022
Wei Quan, Institutional Support Specialist, Tel 2249
Dalton Wang, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Tel 1260
Ido Zuri, Postdoctoral Trainee, Tel, 1022
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Martinez-Marcos, A., Lanuza, E. and Halpern, M. Neural substrates for processing chemosensory information in snakes. Brain Research Bulletin,
in press.
Cinelli, A.R. Wang, D., Chen, P., Liu, W., Halpern, M. Calcium transients in the
garter snake vomeronasal organ. Journal of Neurophysiology, 87:1449-1472, 2002.
Martínez-Marcos, A Ubeda-Bañón, I. and Halpern, M. Neural substrates for tongue-flicking behavior in snakes J. Comp. Neurol. 432:75-87, 2001.
Martínez-Marcos, A Ubeda-Bañón, I. and Halpern, M. Cell migration to the
anterior and posterior divisions of the granule cell layer of the accessory
olfactory bulb of adult opossums. Developmental Brain Research, 127:95-98, 2001.
Lanuza, E. and Halpern, M. Efferents and centrifugal afferents of the main and accessory olfactory bulbs in the snake Thamnophis sirtalis. Brain Behavior and Evolution, 51:1-22, 1998.
Jia, C. and Halpern, M. Segregated populations of mitral/tufted cells in the accessory olfactory bulb. NeuroReport, 8:1887-1890,1997.
Lanuza, E. and Halpern, M. Afferent and efferent connections of the nucleus sphericus in the snake Thamnophis sirtalis: Convergence of olfactory and vomeronasal information in the lateral cortex and the amygdala. Journal of Comparative Neurology,385:627-640, 1997.
Jia, C., Goldman, G. and Halpern, M. Development of vomeronasal receptor neuron subclasses and establishment of topographic projections to the accessory olfactory bulb. Developmental Brain Research, 102:209-216, 1997.
Shapiro, L. S., Roland, R. M. and Halpern, M. Development of olfactory marker protein and CAM expression in chemosensory systems of the opossum, Monodelphis domestica. Journal of Morphology, 234:109-129, 1997.
Liu, W., Wang, D., Chen, P., and Halpern, M. Cloning and expression of a gene encoding chemoattractive protein from earthworm secretion to garter snakes. Journal of Biological Chemistry,272:27378-27381, 1997.
Wang, D., Chen, P., Liu, W., Li, C-S., and Halpern, M. Chemosignal transduction in the vomeronasal organ of garter snakes: Ca2+-Dependent regulation of adenylate cyclase. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 348:96-106, 1997.
Halpern, M., Jia, C. and Shapiro, L. S. Segregated pathways in the vomeronasal system. Microscopy Research and Technique. 41:519-529, 1998.
Jia, C. and Halpern, M. Neurogenesis and migration of receptor neurons in the vomeronasal sensory epithelium in the opossum, Mondelphis domestica. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 400: 287-297, 1998.
Taniguchi, M., Wang, D. and Halpern, M. The characteristics of the electrovomeronasogram (EVG): Its loss following vomeronasal axotomy in garter snake. Chemical Senses,23:653-659, 1998.
Liu, W., Wang, D. Liu, J., Chen, P. and Halpern, M. Cloning of a gene encoding adenylate cyclase from vomeronasal organ of garter snakes. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 358:204-210, 1998.
Shapiro, L. S. and Halpern, M. Development of NADPH-diaphorase expression in chemosensory systems of the opossum, Monodelphis domestica. Developmental Brain Research, 111:51-63, 1998.
Martinez-Marcos,A., Lanuza, E. and Halpern, M. Organization of the ophidian amygdala:chemosensory pathways to the hypothalamus. Journal of Comparative Neurolology, 412:51-68, 1999.
Liu, J., Chen, P., Wang, D. and Halpern, M.Signal transduction in the vomeronasal organ of garter snakes: Ligand-receptor-binding-mediated protein phosphorylation. Biochemica et Biophysical Acta, 1450:320-330, 1999.
Martinez-Marcos, A. and Halpern, M. Differential projections from the anterior and posterior divisions of the accessory olfactory bulb to the medial amygdala in the opossum, Monodelphis domestica. European J. Neuroscience, 11:3789-3799, 1999.
Martinez-Marcos, A., Ubeda-Banon, I and Halpern, M. Cell turnover in the vomeronasal epithelium: Evidence for differential migration and maturation of subclasses of vomeronasal neurons in the adult opossum. J. Neurobiology,43:50-63, 2000.
Taniguchi, M., Wang, D. and Halpern, M. Chemosensitive conductance and inositol 1,4,5 trisphosphate-induced conductance in snake vomeronasal receptor neurons. Chemical Senses, 25:67-76, 2000
Martinez-Marcos, A., Ubeda-Banon, I., Deng, L., and Halpern, M. Neurogenesis in the vomeronasal epithelium of adult rats: Evidence for different mechanisms for growth and neuronal turnover. J. Neurobiology, 2000, 44:423-435.
Martínez-Marcos, A Ubeda-Bañón, I. and Halpern, M. Neural substrates for tongue-flicking behavior in snakes J. Comp. Neurol. In press.
MIMI HALPERN, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Box #: 5
Phone: 270-2416 Fax: 270-3732
e-mail: mhalpern@downstate.edu
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