Analysis of adult neurogenesis in the mouse vomeronasal organ

Fri-P2-071

Presented by: Lena Terlau

Lena Terlau ¹, Friederike Seifert ¹, Christoph Hamacher ¹, Kristin Seré ^{2, 3}, Martin Zenke ^{2, 3}, Marc Spehr ¹

¹ Department for Chemosensation, Institute for Biology II, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, ² Department of Cell Biology, Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany, ³ Helmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

Throughout the lifetime of a rodent, sensory neurons in the vomeronasal organ (VNO) are continuously replaced by adult neurogenesis. However, the precise physiological processes that characterize adult neurogenesis in the VNO remain unclear. Here, we will begin to describe characteristics of neurogenesis in the vomeronasal sensory epithelium. We aim to label newly generated vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) using a novel genetic approach: upon tamoxifen injection, neuronal stem cells in Id2CreER^T2 :: Rosa26R-tdTomato mice express tdTomato upon coincident Id2 promoter activity. Descendants of these stem cells are thus labelled by red fluorescence. Using the Id2 stem cell marker as a VSN lineage tracer, we describe (i) the proportion of new-born neurons within the VSN population. Furthermore, we identify (ii) the epithelial position and morphology of individual new-born neurons and characterize their age-dependent migration patterns within the sensory epithelium. Finally, by analysing marker protein co-staining of tdTomato-positive cells, we assess the differentiation and maturation state of new-born neurons after 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 57 days post injection.