TAURINE IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM - EFFECTS OF THE OLFACTORY TOXICANT DICHLOBENIL

Following intranasal instillation of C-14-taurine in C57Bl/6 mice, the re was a labelling of the olfactory neuroepithelium, axon bundles and axon layers in the olfactory bulb 4 and 24 h later, suggesting an axon al migration of radioactivity to the olfactory bulbs. In the olfactory bulbs the level of radioactivity was 45-times higher than that in the posterior part of the brain. In mice treated with the olfactory toxic ant dichlobenil, inducing necrosis in the dorsomedial olfactory region , there was a dose-dependent decrease in the level of C-14-taurine and H-3-carnosine (derived from the precursor H-3-beta-alanine) in the ol factory bulb. The migration of C-14-taurine in the olfactory system of dichlobenil-dosed mice gradually recovered 3 - 8 weeks later although an atypical epithelium remained in the dorsomedial portion of the olf actory region. The results suggest a transient reduction of the migrat ion of taurine in the olfactory system of mice following chemically-in duced toxicity at this site. (C) 1995 Intox Press, Inc.