Prenatal Hypdxia Impairs Olfactory Function In Postnatal Ontogenesis Of Rats

Analysis of age-dependent dynamics of olfactory behavior in the tests of odor preference and food search demonstrated that all Wistar male rats, regardless of age, out of 8 essential oil smells prefer the smell of valerian, the components of which have pheromonal properties in rodents, and young rats demonstrate better food search results than adults and old animals. Acute prenatal hypoxia (PH) on E14 (7% O-2, 3 h) led to an impairment of the odor preference to valerian in all rat age groups, as well as to a decrease in the effectiveness of food search. After PH in the piriform cortex of rats there were processes of neurodegeneration, reduction of the number of neurons and an increase in glial cells. Similar changes were observed by us earlier in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus but not in the olfactory bulbs. This suggests that the decrease in the olfactory function in rats caused by PH may result from the disturbances in the formation of the central parts of the olfactory system during the first months of postnatal ontogenesis.