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The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 1683-1696 (2003)
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00338

Polyamines as olfactory stimuli in the goldfish Carassius auratus

S. H. Rolen^1,*, P. W. Sorensen², D. Mattson² and J. Caprio¹

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Life Sciences Building Room 202, Baton Rouge, LA 70830, USA
² Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, 200 Hodson Hall, 980 Folwell Avenue, St Paul, MN 55108, USA

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: srolen1{at}lsu.edu)

Accepted 27 February 2003

Electrophysiological responses of goldfish olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) and goldfish behavioral responses to polyamines were investigated in vivo. Electro-olfactogram (EOG) recordings indicated that polyamines (putrescine, cadaverine and spermine) are potent olfactory stimuli for goldfish with estimated electrophysiological thresholds of 10^–8–10^–7 mol l^–1, similar to that for L-arginine, the most stimulatory amino acid. Although thresholds were similar, the magnitude of the EOG responses to intermediate (10^–5–10^–4 mol l^–1) and high (10^–3 mol l^–1) concentrations of polyamines dwarfed the responses to amino acids and related single amine containing compounds (amylamine and butylamine). The EOG responses to 0.1 mmol l^–1 putrescine, cadaverine and spermine were, respectively, 4.2x, 4.3x and 10.3x the response of the standard, 0.1 mmol l^–1 L-arginine. Electrophysiological cross-adaptation experiments indicated that polyamine receptor sites are independent from those to L-amino acids (alanine, arginine, glutamate, lysine, methionine and ornithine), bile salts (sodium taurocholate and taurolithocholate), the single amine containing compounds (amylamine and butylamine) and ATP. Further, the cross-adaptation experiments revealed the existence of independent receptor sites for the different polyamines tested. Pharmacological experiments suggested that polyamine odorant transduction does not primarily involve the cyclic AMP and IP₃ second messenger pathways. Behavioral assays indicated that polyamines are attractants that elicit feeding behavior similar to that elicited by L-amino acids.

Key words: electro-olfactogram, olfaction, receptor site, second messenger, goldfish, Carassius auratus

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