Elsevier

Brain Research

Volume 186, Issue 2, 31 March 1980, Pages 393-408
Brain Research

Cytosine arabinoside effects on developing cerebellum in tissue culture

https://doi.org/10.1016/0006-8993(80)90984-1Get rights and content

Abstract

Cerebellar explants derived from neonatal mice were exposed to cytosine arabinoside, an inhibitor of DNA synthesis. Following such exposure, the cortical regions of the explants contained numerous closely packed large neurons with few intervening elements and without lamination. The surviving large cortical neurons included Golgi cells and Purkinje cells, the latter with persistent dendritic spines in the absence of granule cells. A marked increase in density of subcortical and intracortical neurites was evident in fiber stains. The neurites were identified as Purkinje cell axons and axon collaterals by fiber tracing. Myelin failed to form around the axonal elements. Both regular and phasic spontaneous discharges were recorded electrophysiologically. Trains of cortical stimuli elicited both excitatory and inhibitory responses in the absence of parallel fibers. Antidromic stimulation of Purkinje cell axon evoked inhibition of spontaneous cortical discharges. By contrast, antidromic activation of Purkinje cell axons in control cultures had no effect on spontaneous cortical discharges, or provoked a transient increase in discharge rate. These responses were interpreted as consistent with a cortical remodeling in granuloprival cerebellar cultures in which basket-stellate cell inhibition of Purkinje cells was preemted by Purkinje cell recurrent axon collateral inhibition.

Reference (35)

  • AggerwalA.S.

    The Maturation of the Purkinje Neuron in vivo and in Cultures. A Light and Electron Microscopic Study

  • AltmanJ. et al.

    Experimental reorganization of the cerebellar cortex. I. Morphological effects of elimination of all microneurons with prolonged X-irradiation started at birth

    J. comp. Neurol.

    (1972)
  • BornsteinM.B. et al.

    Serial observations on patterns of growth, myelin formation, maintenance and degeneration in cultures of new-born rat and kitten cerebellum

    J. biophys. biochem. Cytol.

    (1958)
  • CalvetM.C. et al.

    In vitro Purkinje cell electrical behavior related to tissular environment

    Exp. Brain Res.

    (1975)
  • EcclesJ.C. et al.EcclesJ.C. et al.
  • FurlongN.B. et al.

    Inhibition of DNA synthesis but not of poly-dAT synthesis by the arabinose analogue of cytidine in vitro

    Nature (Lond.)

    (1971)
  • Ga¨hwilerB.H.

    The effects of GABA, picrotoxin and bicuculline on the spontaneous bioelectric activity of cultured cerebellar Purkinje cells

    Brain Research

    (1975)
  • Cited by (61)

    • The changeable nervous system: Studies on neuroplasticity in cerebellar cultures

      2014, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
      Citation Excerpt :

      A follow-up quantitative study affirmed a three- to four-fold increase in the number of surviving large cortical neurons (Seil, 1987). In spite of the absence of parallel fibers, Purkinje cell dendrites were studded with spines (Seil et al., 1980). The numbers of Purkinje cell axons and especially axon collaterals were markedly increased, but were not myelinated.

    • Intrinsic versus extrinsic determinants during the development of Purkinje cell dendrites

      2009, Neuroscience
      Citation Excerpt :

      Experiments performed many years ago allowed us to assume that climbing fibers are essential for this compartmentalization of PC dendrites, since if climbing fibers are removed either during development (Sotelo and Arsenio-Nunes, 1976) or in adult animals (Sotelo et al., 1975), the thorns, stubby spines, disappear, and numerous new long-necked spines, similar to those present in the distal compartment, emerge all along the proximal branches. In the same fashion, in organotypic culture, a system devoid of climbing fibers, PCs bear numerous spines throughout their dendritic tree (Seil et al., 1980; Dusart et al., 1997). These results suggest that climbing fibers, the first afferent axons to contact PCs (Sotelo, 2008), exert a strong repressive influence on their postsynaptic domain, preventing it from being contacted by parallel fibers.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text