Features of macro- and micromorphology of human olfactory bulbs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/NCBio.24.2-1Keywords:
brain, olfactory analyzer, olfactory bulbs, cytoarchitectonics, nervous tissue.Abstract
The olfactory system is a complexly organized sensory system that allows the perception, distinction, and analysis of odorants of different natures and concentrations. This system is a contact analyzer, i.e., reception can only occur if the odorant comes into direct contact with the receptor proteins of the sensory cells of the olfactory epithelium.
The peripheral part of the olfactory system (olfactory organ) is represented by the sensory epithelium of the mucous membrane, which is localized in the roof of the nasal cavity, the upper nasal concha, and the upper third of the nasal septum. The olfactory epithelium contains neurosensory cells whose axons are directed to the olfactory bulbs. These structures of the end brain have complex cytoarchitectonics, consist of different morphological types of neurons, and have significant variability in cytoarchitectonic layers. Studying the morphological and histological features of the structure of human olfactory bulbs will help to understand their age-related changes and their variability in general.
The study materials were 17 pairs of olfactory bulbs of men and women aged 33 years and older and the oldest 95 years, isolated based on the pathology bureau of the Volyn Regional Clinical Hospital of the Volyn Regional Council. Various morphometric data were measured on the studied samples: linear measurements of the skull, chest measurements, brain weight, and measurements of the olfactory bulbs, their weight, and longitudinal and transverse dimensions. Morphometry of the olfactory bulb structures was also performed. Histological studies were performed in the Laboratory of Histology and Morphogenesis of the Department of Histology and Medical Biology of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University.
As a result of the study, the olfactory bulbs were divided into three groups, namely, club-shaped, ribbon-shaped, and filamentous. We also distinguish seven cytoarchitectonic layers: olfactory nerve layer, glomerular layer, external plexiform layer, mitral cell layer, internal plexiform layer, granule cell layer, and nerve fiber layer. In conclusion, we describe how the size and weight of olfactory bulbs change with age, which is associated with a decrease in the thickness of cytoarchitectonic layers.
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