Cellular Mechanisms Involved in Cerebellar Microzonation

Publication date: Available online 23 January 2020Source: NeuroscienceAuthor(s): Constantino SoteloAbstractIn the last 50 years, our vision of the cerebellum has vastly evolved starting with Jan Voogd’s (1967) description of extracerebellar projections’ terminations and how the projection maps transformed the presumptive homogeneity of the cerebellar cortex into a more complex center subdivided into transverse and longitudinal distinct functional zones. The picture became still more complex with Richard Hawkes and colleagues’ (Gravel et al., 1987) discovery of the biochemical heterogeneity of Purkinje cells (PCs), by screening their molecular identities with monoclonal antibodies. Antigens were expressed in a parasagittal pattern with subsets of PCs either possessing or lacking the respective antigens, which divided the cerebellar cortex into precise longitudinal compartments that are congruent with the projection maps. The correlation of these two maps in adult cerebellum shows a perfect matching of developmental mechanisms. This review discusses a series of arguments in favor of the essential role played by PCs in organizing the microzonation of the cerebellum during development (the “matching” hypothesis).
Source: Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research