Elsevier

Neuroscience

Volume 162, Issue 3, 1 September 2009, Pages 549-559
Neuroscience

History
Review
Cerebellum: history

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2009.02.054Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper will outline the history of study of the cerebellum from its beginnings to relatively recent times. Although there is no unanimous agreement about what the cerebellum does or how it does it, some principles of its structure and function are well understood. The historical approach can help to identify remaining questions and point the way to future progress. We make no effort to separate anatomical, physiological and clinical studies; rather, we hope to emphasize their interrelation. The cerebellum has always been seen as a distinct subdivision of the brain. Over the years there was an increasingly accurate description of its gross appearance and major subdivisions. By the beginning of the 19th century, the classical descriptive anatomical work was completed, and experimental study of the functions of the cerebellum began. Lesions were made in the cerebellum of experimental animals, and the behavioral deficits that were caused by the lesion were studied and described. These early animal studies powerfully influenced clinical interpretation of the symptoms seen in patients with cerebellar disease. Several questions are implicit in the anatomical and clinical studies of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, some of which remain incompletely answered. Many of these are addressed in other chapters in this volume. 1. Do different parts of the cerebellum do different things? The uniformity of the neuronal architecture of the cerebellar cortex suggests that each small region must operate in a similar way, but it is also clear that different regions control different functions. Is there a systematic sensory and/or body representation? 2. What are the functions of the cerebellar hemispheres? Massive in humans and very large in primates, their functions remain in dispute. Because the size of the cerebellar hemispheres parallels the development of the cerebral cortex, some have suggested that the hemispheres in humans and the higher primates may play a role in cognitive functions. 3. If one part of the cerebellum is damaged, can another part take over? A related question is whether normal motor function is possible in cases of complete or near-complete agenesis of the cerebellum. 4. What are the functions of the two distinctly different afferent systems to the cerebellum; the climbing and mossy fibers?

Section snippets

Experimental evidence of cerebellar function

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, animal experiments began to give a more accurate functional understanding. Luigi Rolando (1773–1831) identified the specifically motor symptoms which follow cerebellar lesion (1809) (Fig. 5). The lesions impaired motor and not sensory or intellectual functions.

Rolando concluded that the cerebellum was the brain region responsible for initiating movement, but his experiments were rather crude. With the development of increased surgical skill and later

Clinical interpretation of cerebellar lesions and disease

These 19th-century studies profoundly influenced clinical interpretation. Two of the great twentieth-century neurologists based their analysis on experimental findings. Joseph Babinski (1857–1932), following Flourens, emphasized deficits in coordination especially of antagonistic muscles used in rapid movement sequences (dysdiadochokinesis), while Gordon Holmes, following Luciani, emphasized more elementary losses in muscle control.

Babinski (1902) (Fig. 8) cited “Flourens' memorable

Functional localization and comparative anatomy

Comparative study revealed similarities and differences among vertebrates in cerebellar structure. Vesalius and others had emphasized the fact that the folding and fissures of the cerebellum seem to be much less variable than in the cerebral cortex. One of the great contributors to comparative anatomy, often poorly recognized, was made by the Dutch anatomist Lodewijk Bolk (1866–1930).

Bolk (1906) (Fig. 10) compared the structure of cerebellum in 69 different mammals. He identified a common plan

The related problems of recovery from cerebellar lesion and cerebellar agenesis

The initial symptoms which follow cerebellar lesions may improve over time. In the extreme case of cerebellar agenesis, it has even been stated that the cerebellum may not be necessary for normal movement. Although some authors have concluded that cerebellar agenesis is not necessarily associated with motor impairment, the conclusion is probably wrong (Dow and Moruzzi, 1958). A young girl who died from an unrelated disease was found at autopsy to lack a cerebellum (Anton and Zingerle, 1914).

Histological structure of the cerebellar cortex and the functions of the two distinctly different afferent systems to the cerebellum: the climbing and mossy fibers

Recognition of the cell and fiber types in the cerebellum was closely related to the development of the neuron doctrine; the idea that the brain and spinal cord are made up of individual elements (later called neurons) and their supporting elements. Neurons may touch one another, but they do not fuse. The first characteristic cells in the human brain to be accurately described were by Jan Evangelista Purkinje in 1837 (Fig. 12), 2 years before Schwann (1839) formulated and published the cell

Physiological and anatomical studies in the 20th century and current questions

Ramon y Cajal's great contribution could not be properly utilized in his own day by physiologists. The development of microelectrode recording and electron microscopy ushered in a new age in cerebellar physiology in the 1960s. Janos Szentágothai with morphological studies and John Eccles by means of electrophysiological analysis provided for the first time a complete picture of the functional architecture of the cerebellar cortex, identifying the excitatory and the inhibitory nature of each

Some unsolved questions

  • 1

    How should we interpret the spatial extent of cerebellar cortex? Are there many somatotopic maps? Current textbooks, based on earlier studies of mossy fiber afferents postulate two somatotopic maps; but the situation is far more complex.

  • 2

    How do mossy fiber and climbing fiber afferents interact in their effects on the Purkinje cell?

  • 3

    A question almost forgotten: what is the meaning in the great differences among mammals in development of one or another region of cerebellum?

  • 4

    Finally what does the

Acknowledgments

We were guided to much of the early literature by the excellent volume by Clarke and O'Malley (1968). Some of the quotes used in this article were taken from the translations in that book.

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