Neurobiological mechanisms involved in recognition of olfactory signature of the young in sheep

Abstract

The following review focuses on neurobiological mechanisms responsible for the individual recognition of the olfactory signature of the young by the ewe at parturition. Steroids and vaginocervical stimulation are responsible for neurochemical and electrophysiological changes within the olfactory bulb that are part of the learning mechanisms of the individual lamb odour, thus allowing the establishment of a selective bond between the ewe and her lamb. There is an increase in the number of mitral cells, the principal cells of the olfactory bulb that respond to lamb odours, which is associated with increased release of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid from the dendrodendritic synapses between the mitral and granule cells. The relation between the release of the two transmitters after birth suggests an increased efficacy of glutamate evoked gamma-aminobutyric acid release. Parturition is also accompanied by increased oxytocinergic, cholinergic and noradrenergic neurotransmitter release that are essential for selective recognition of lambs. These increases in transmitter release depend on maternal experience, so that greater amounts have been found in multiparous than primiparous ewes. Therefore maternal experience seems to induce a neural maturation process that facilitates effective transmitter release in the olfactory bulb.