Authors: Adrien Demilly Stacey L Reeber Samrawit A Gebre Roy V Sillitoe
Publish Date: 2010/02/03
Volume: 10, Issue: 3, Pages: 409-421
Abstract
Despite the general uniformity in cellular composition of the adult cerebellum Cb the expression of proteins such as ZebrinII/AldolaseC and the small heat shock protein HSP25 reveal striking patterns of parasagittal Purkinje cell PC stripes Based on differences in the stripe configuration within subsets of lobules the Cb can be further divided into four anterior–posterior transverse zones anterior zone AZ = lobules I–V central zone CZ = lobules VI–VII posterior zone PZ = lobules VIII and anterior IX and the nodular zone NZ = lobules posterior IX–X Here we used wholemount and tissue section immunohistochemistry to show that neurofilament heavy chain NFH expression alone divides all lobules of the mouse Cb into a complex series of parasagittal stripes of PCs We revealed that the striped pattern of NFH in the vermis of the AZ and PZ was complementary to ZebrinII and phospholipase C ß3 PLCß3 and corresponded to phospholipase C ß4 PLCß4 In the CZ and NZ the stripe pattern of NFH was complementary to HSP25 and corresponded to PLCß3 The boundaries of the NFH stripes were not always sharply delineated Instead a gradual decrease in NFH expression was observed toward the edges of particular stripes resulting in domains comprised of overlapping expression patterns Furthermore the terminal field distributions of mossy and climbing fibers had a complex but consistent topographical alignment with NFH stripes In summary NFH expression reveals an exquisite level of Cb stripe complexity that respects the transverse zone divisions and delineates an intricately patterned target field for Cb afferents
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