2009 Abstracts - Association for Chemoreception Sciences

enantiomer counterparts before and after the conditioning phase.In support of the previous study, there was a trend ofimprovement in enantiomer discrimination at post- relative topre-conditioning (P = 0.15). Importantly, increased enantiomerdiscrimination was significantly associated with anxiety (r = 0.38,P = 0.05) and perceived control of threat-relevant situations(r = -0.42, P = 0.03). That anxiety in this high-functioningnonclinical sample enhances odor discrimination learning suggeststhat non-clinical anxiety facilitates emotional learning via aversiveconditioning, thereby enhancing perceptual discrimination.This mechanism may serve to compensate for hyper-arousal andexcessive sensitivity to threat in anxiety, preserving the cognitiveand social functions of these individuals. Further evidence is beingcollected with measures of brain event-related potentials andautonomic responses.#P208 Poster session V: Chemosensory memory/Central synaptic physiology/NeurogenesisExpansion, Engraftment and Multi-Lineage Potency of MouseNeonatal Olfactory NeurospheresRichard C. Krolewski, James E. SchwobDepartment of Anatomy & Cellular Biology, Tufts UniversitySchool of Medicine Boston, MA, USAThe olfactory mucosa (OM) of humans and rodents exhibitsongoing neurogenesis and epithelial reconstitution followinginjury and may have potential for cell-based therapies.Unfortunately, conventional 2-D cultures of OM have limitedpotency following transplantation. The precedent set by CNSstem cell neurospheres have led us to investigate the use of a 3-Dolfactory neurosphere (ONS) culture system in which OMharvested from neonates was used as a proxy for stem andprogenitor activity. In our hands, ONS are comprised of multiple,marker-defined cell types as well as proliferating cells like thosefound in OE, confirming previous work (Barraud 2007). ONSwere passaged and exposed to varying growth factors and mediaconditions to determine their effects on expansion and renewal.Culture of passaged ONS in NIH3T3–conditioned mediaincreases the number of secondary spheres suggesting thatexpansion of ONS is driven by selected components of the culturemedia. To test the engraftment potential of ONS–derived cells,OM from constitutive GFP–expressing neonatal mice wasdissociated, cultured for 8 DIV as ONS and infused into the nasalcavity of host animals 1 day after exposure to the olfactotoxinmethyl bromide. At two weeks after transplantation, ONSderivedcells have engrafted into the host, are integrated in theregenerating olfactory epithelium and formed colonies. Thedonor–derived colonies are composed of multiple marker– andmorphology–defined OE cell types, demonstrating that culture asONS maintains the capacity for engraftment and themultipotency of ONS–derived cells. These data imply that therecapitulation of the rich milieu of inherent cell state, cell-to-cellcommunication, and growth factor influences are required tomaintain transplantation potential.#P209 Poster session V: Chemosensory memory/Central synaptic physiology/NeurogenesisComparison of incidental and intentional learning of olfactoryand visual stimuliPer Møller 1 , Dag Piper 2 , Ditte Hartvig 1 , Egon P Köster 11University of Copenhagen Frederiksberg, Denmark, 2 SymriseGermany Holzminden, GermanyObjective: To investigate if memories of incidentally andintentionally learned olfactory and visual stimuli differ withrespect to modality, mode of learning, gender and age. Methods:One hundred and seventeen young and 114 elderdy Ssparticipated in the experiment which had 2 sessions on 2 separatedays. Stimuli consisted of 12 odorants and 12 images of objectsemanating the odorants used. Half of each set of 12 stimuli werepleasant and the other half less pleasant. Young and elderly Sswere divided into two groups who learned the visual andolfactory stimuli to be remembered either incidentally orintentionally. Each of the learning groups were split into 4 groupsin which the olfactory and visual stimuli were either congruent orincongruent with respect to pleasantness. In the first task Ssevaluated pleasantness of 6 odours and 6 images. In the memorytest which followed after 5 min, the stimuli evaluated forpleasantness in the first task served as targets and the other 6odours and 6 images served as distractors. On day 2 Ss performed3 tasks: discrimination of odours and images used in the memorytest, a congruency test where each odour was presented with thetwo corresponding images and the task was to pair the odour withone of the images and vice versa for images and a hedonic test ofall 24 stimuli. Results and conclusions: Overall, there is nodifference in memory of incidentally and intentionally learnedstimuli and there is no difference between men and women.Young Ss, however, remember the stimuli significantly better thanelderly Ss (p