We use a number of technologies to address how pheromone information is encoded in the VNO and in the brain. We use optical imaging as well as electrophysiological recordings to monitor pheromone-elicited neural activities.
In collaboration with Dr. Junichi Nakai, we have developed an mouse line expressing the calcium indicator, C-CaMP. C-CaMP is a derivative of circular-permutated EGFP, with a M13 peptide and a calmodulin domain flanking cpEGFP. Upon calcium binding, C-CaMP decreases its fluorescence. C-CaMP expressed in the olfactory sensory neurons allowed us to monitor the pattern of pheromone activation in the VNO.
