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The Journal of Neuroscience, December 3, 2003, 23(35):11147-11157

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Physiology of Cells in the Central Lobes of the Mormyrid Cerebellum

Victor Z. Han and Curtis C. Bell

Neurological Sciences Institute, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Beaverton, Oregon 97006

The cerebellum of mormyrid electric fish is unusual for its size and for the regularity of its histology. The circuitry of the mormyrid cerebellum is also different from that of the mammalian cerebellum in that mormyrid Purkinje cell axons terminate locally within the cortex on efferent cells, and the cellular regions of termination for climbing fibers and parallel fibers are well separated. These and other features suggest that the mormyrid cerebellum may be a useful site for addressing some functional issues regarding cerebellar circuitry. We have therefore begun to examine the physiology of the mormyrid cerebellum by recording intracellularly from morphologically identified Purkinje cells, efferent cells, Golgi cells, and stellate cells in in vitro slices. Mormyrid Purkinje cells respond to parallel fiber input with an AMPA-mediated EPSP that shows paired pulse facilitation and to climbing fiber input with a large all-or-none AMPA-mediated EPSP that shows paired pulse depression. Recordings from the somas of Purkinje cells show three types of spikes in response to injected current: a small, narrow sodium spike; a large, broad sodium spike; and a large broad calcium spike. Efferent cells, Golgi cells, and stellate cells respond to parallel fiber input with an EPSP or EPSP-IPSP sequence and show only large, narrow spikes in response to intracellular current injection. We conclude that the physiology of the mormyrid cerebellum is similar in many ways to the mammalian cerebellum but is also different in ways that may prove instructive concerning the functional circuitry of the cerebellum.

Key words: cerebellum; Purkinje cell; mormyrid; electric fish; calcium spike; sodium spike

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Received Aug 26, 2003; revised October 1, 2003; accepted October 6, 2003.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. Z. Han, Y. Zhang, C. C. Bell, and C. Hansel Synaptic Plasticity and Calcium Signaling in Purkinje Cells of the Central Cerebellar Lobes of Mormyrid Fish J. Neurosci., December 5, 2007; 27(49): 13499 - 13512. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Zhang and V. Z. Han Physiology of Morphologically Identified Cells in the Posterior Caudal Lobe of the Mormyrid Cerebellum J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2007; 98(3): 1297 - 1308. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. M. de Ruiter, C. I. De Zeeuw, and C. Hansel Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels in Cerebellar Purkinje Cells of Mormyrid Fish J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2006; 96(1): 378 - 390. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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