The compartmental restriction of cerebellar interneurons

Abstract

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The Purkinje cells of the cerebellar cortex are subdivided into multiple different phenotypes that form an elaborate array of parasagittal stripes. This array serves as a scaffold around which afferent topography is organized. The ways in which cerebellar interneurons may be restricted by this scaffolding are less well understood. This review begins with a brief survey of cerebellar topography. Next, it reviews the development of stripes in the cerebellum with a particular emphasis on the embryological origins of cerebellar interneurons. These data serve as a foundation to discuss the hypothesis that cerebellar compartment boundaries also restrict cerebellar interneurons, both excitatory (granule cells, unipolar brush cells) and inhibitory (e.g., Golgi cells, basket cells). Finally, it is proposed that the same Purkinje cell scaffold that restricts afferent terminal fields to stripes may also act to organize cerebellar interneurons.

Keywords

• Neurogenesis
• Purkinje Cells
• pattern formation
• basket cells
• cerebellar granule neurons
• climbing fibers