In vitro study of olfactory receptor neurones expressing the dipeptide carnosine

Olfactory neuroepithelial (OE) cells were dissociated from late stage embryonic mice and analysed for carnosine expression. The yield of carnosine neurones was twice as high when the OE cells were seeded along with the olfactory bulb cells. Carnosine neurones resulted from both in vitro survival and neurogenesis, and were associated with clusters of underlying flat cells immunopositive for keratin. Our results demonstrate that olfactory neurones expressing their neurotransmitter carnosine can be studied in culture, and the close association with keratin-immunopositive basal cells suggests that they are dependent on these cells for survival and/or differentiation.