Antigonadal Actions of Olfactory and Light Deprivation. I. Effects of Blindness Combined With Olfactory Bulb Deafferentation, Transection of Vomeronasal Nerves, or Bulbectomy

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Abstract
Olfactory bulbectomy is known to potentiate the antigonadal effects of light deprivation. However, the physiological interpretation of the effects of bulbar ablation is complex, since it simultaneously implies sequelae like: a) the loss of olfactory sensitivity (anosmia), b) the suppression of the accessory olfactory system (AOS), and c) the suppression of nonsensorial functions of the bulbs. To study the participation of these three mechanisms in the effects of bulbectomy + light deprivation, we compared, in 28‐day‐old male rats, the effects of olfactory bulb deafferentation (peripheral anosmia) with those induced by either olfactory bulbectomy or blocking the AOS, alone or associated with blindness.As compared to the intact or blinded animals, both blinded deafferented (EA) and blinded bulbectomized (EB) rats showed various reductions in weights of body, testes, accessory sexual glands, and prostates; serum testosterone levels were also depressed. Testes of EA rats showed various degrees of alterations in spermatogenesis. The only difference between EA and EB groups was in the pituitary weight, significantly lower in EA rats.Vomeronasal nerve transection by itself had no effect on the parameters examined, and when combined with blindness it did not result in further inhibition of reproductive function. These results indicate that the potentiation by bulbectomy of the antigonadal effects of light deprivation is anosmia‐dependent and not due to a loss of nonolfactory functions of the bulbs. Our experimental model of peripheral anosmia makes it possible to study light‐olfaction interactions without the interference of the brain lesions inherent in bulbectomy.