Differential spatiotemporal development of Purkinje cell populations and cerebellum-dependent sensorimotor behaviors
Abstract
Distinct populations of Purkinje cells (PCs) with unique molecular and connectivity features are at the core of the modular organization of the cerebellum. Previously, we showed that firing activity of Purkinje cells differs between ZebrinII-positive (Z+) and -negative (Z−) cerebellar modules (Zhou et al., 2014; Wu et al., 2019). Here, we investigate the timing and extent of PC differentiation during development in mice. We found that several features of PCs, including activity levels, dendritic arborisation, axonal shape and climbing fiber input, develop differentially between nodular and anterior PC populations. Although all PCs show a particularly rapid development in the second postnatal week, anterior PCs typically have a prolonged physiological and dendritic maturation. In line herewith, younger mice exhibit attenuated anterior-dependent eyeblink conditioning, but faster nodular-dependent compensatory eye movement adaptation. Our results indicate that specific cerebellar regions have unique developmental timelines which match with their related, specific forms of cerebellum-dependent behaviors.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
H2020 European Research Council (ERC-Stg #680235)
- Martijn Schonewille
ZonMw (ZonMW-451001027)
- Catarina Osório
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (#016.121.346)
- Freek E Hoebeek
ZonMw (#91210067)
- Freek E Hoebeek
C.J. Vaillant Fund
- Freek E Hoebeek
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (016.Veni.192.270)
- Joshua J White
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Animal experimentation: This study was performed under a project license approved by the Dutch Central Committee for Animal Experiments (CCD, AVD #101002015273). Each experiment was separately verified and approved by the Animal Welfare Body (IvD/AWB, various work protocols). All surgeries were performed under isoflurane anesthesia combined with local anesthetics and analgesics in an effort to minimize suffering.
Copyright
© 2021, Beekhof et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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