The spatial organization of olfactory nerve projections.

The spatial organization of olfactory nerve projections was examined in the rat. The pathway was traced by orthograde transport of HRP following nasal lavage and by retrograde transport of HRP following injections into the olfactory bulb. The results indicated that there was a broad relationship between the epithelium and the olfactory bulb. Specific regions of the olfactory bulb received input from a large region of the epithelium. However, there was evidence that olfactory nerve terminations were not uniformly dense across their terminal fields. The results suggest that there may be finer sorting of olfactory nerves based on functional specificity.