Histological Structure Difference of Dog’s Olfactory Bulb Between Different Age and Sex

The purpose of this article is to detect sex and age difference in the structure of the olfactory bulb in dogs by histological methods. The thickness of the olfactory bulbs layers and its main cells were analyzed comparatively with the methods of HE-staining and statistics, through which we studied the development course of dogs’ olfactory bulb and the structural differences which affect the olfaction in both males and females. The results showed that between both male and female juveniles and adult males and females, the difference in thickness of each layer is not significant. But the difference in quantity of mitral cells between adult males and females was significant. Meanwhile, the structure of every layer in juvenile dogs was apparent while the volume and the weight of adult dogs’ olfactory bulb and each layer’s width increased significantly. On the other hand, the density of each layer’s cells decreased apparently. Our results demonstrated that the olfactory bulb developed with age, and the apparent differences in morphology and quantity of mitral cells between males and females may be one of the reasons leading to the sexual variations of olfactory sensitivity.