Preparation of isolated mouse olfactory receptor neurons.

A method is described for producing large numbers of isolated olfactory receptor neurons from adult mouse nasal epithelium. The dissociated neurons and other cell types isolated from nasal epithelium retain their morphology and can be identified visually. The neurons were judged to be intact and viable by trypan blue dye exclusion, the presence of olfactory marker protein (OMP), and a variety of electrophysiological measurements indicating the presence of substantial membrane potentials, low levels of intracellular Ca2+, and the ability to fire action potentials. The receptor neurons and other cell types produced by this method are amenable to the patch-clamp technique and to immunohistochemical studies.