Monoclonal antibodies to the rat olfactory sustentacular cell.

Immunization of BALB/c mice with rat olfactory epithelium permitted the production of a number of monoclonal antibodies directed towards cell types within the tissue. One of these antibodies, designated SUS-1, reacts specifically with cells located at the luminal surface of the olfactory neuroepithelium which possess a characteristic wine-glass body and a basal process which projects to the basement membrane. Thus these cells have the topographical and morphological properties of olfactory sustentacular cells. The SUS-1-positive cells are not stained by an antibody to the olfactory marker protein and neither does the SUS-1 antibody react with mature olfactory neurons in double labeling experiments. Upon unilateral olfactory bulbectomy there is a marked reduction in olfactory marker protein positive cells while there is no apparent diminution in the labeling of SUS-1 cells. These data show conclusively that the mature olfactory neurons and the SUS-1-positive cells are distinct from one another. SUS-1 staining is absent in all tissues examined except the olfactory epithelium. However, small discrete groups of cells in the lamina propria mucosae (often referred to as the submucosa) do stain in addition to the luminal sustentacular cell layer. The possibility is considered that the mature sustentacular cells may be related to these latter cells.