TY  - JOUR
AU  - Untiet, Verena
AU  - Moeller, Lisa M.
AU  - Ibarra-Soria, Ximena
AU  - Sánchez-Andrade, Gabriela
AU  - Stricker, Miriam
AU  - Neuhaus, Eva M.
AU  - Logan, Darren W.
AU  - Gensch, Thomas
AU  - Spehr, Marc
TI  - Elevated Cytosolic Cl − Concentrations in Dendritic Knobs of Mouse Vomeronasal Sensory Neurons
JO  - Chemical senses
VL  - 41
IS  - 8
SN  - 1464-3553
CY  - Oxford
PB  - Oxford Univ. Press
M1  - FZJ-2016-07438
SP  - 669 - 676
PY  - 2016
AB  - In rodents, the vomeronasal system controls social and sexual behavior. However, several mechanistic aspects of sensory signaling in the vomeronasal organ remain unclear. Here, we investigate the biophysical basis of a recently proposed vomeronasal signal transduction component—a Ca 2+ -activated Cl − current. As the physiological role of such a current is a direct function of the Cl − equilibrium potential, we determined the intracellular Cl − concentration in dendritic knobs of vomeronasal neurons. Quantitative fluorescence lifetime imaging of a Cl − -sensitive dye at the apical surface of the intact vomeronasal neuroepithelium revealed increased cytosolic Cl − levels in dendritic knobs, a substantially lower Cl − concentration in vomeronasal sustentacular cells, and an apparent Cl − gradient in vomeronasal neurons along their dendritic apicobasal axis. Together, our data provide a biophysical basis for sensory signal amplification in vomeronasal neuron microvilli by opening Ca 2+ -activated Cl − channels. 
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000384406500003
C6  - pmid:27377750
DO  - DOI:10.1093/chemse/bjw077
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/824942
ER  -