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Spinal cord projections to the cerebellum in the mouse

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Abstract

The projections from the spinal cord to the cerebellar cortex were studied using retrograde neuronal tracers. Thus far, no study has shown the detailed topographic mapping of the projections from the spinal neuron clusters to the cerebellar cortex regions for experimental animals, and there are no studies for the mouse. Tracers Fluoro-Gold and cholera toxin B were injected into circumscribed regions of the cerebellar cortex, and retrogradely labeled spinal cord neurons were mapped throughout the spinal cord. Spinal projections to the cerebellar cortex were mainly from five neuronal columns—central cervical nucleus, dorsal nucleus, lumbar and sacral precerebellar nuclei, and lumbar border precerebellar cells—and from scattered neurons located in the deep dorsal horn and laminae 6–8. The spinocerebellar projections to the cortex were mainly to the vermis. All five precerebellar cell columns projected to both anterior and posterior parts of the cerebellar cortex. Results of this study provide an amendment to the known rostral and caudal boundaries of the precerebellar cell columns in the mouse. Scattered precerebellar neurons in the most caudal deep dorsal horn and laminae 6–8 projected exclusively to the anterior part of the cerebellar cortex. In this study, no labeled spinal neurons were found to project to the lobules 6 and 7 of the cerebellar vermis, the flocculus, and the paraflocculus. Spinocerebellar neurons were located bilaterally, but the majority of the projections were contralateral for the central cervical nucleus, and ipsilateral for the remaining spinal precerebellar neuronal clusters.

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Abbreviations

1–10Cb:

Lobule 1–10 of the cerebellar vermis

6–8Sp:

Spinal laminae 6–8

C:

Cervical

CeCv:

Central cervical nucleus

Co:

Coccygeal

Cop:

Copula of the pyramis

Crus1:

Crus1 of the ansiform lobule

Crus2:

Crus2 of the ansiform lobule

CTB:

Cholera toxin B subunit

D:

Dorsal nucleus

DDH:

Deep dorsal horn

dsc:

Dorsal spinocerebellar tract

FG:

Fluoro-Gold

Fl:

Flocculus

IntDL:

Dorsolateral hump of the interposed cerebellar nucleus

L:

Lumbar

LBPr:

Lumbar border precerebellar cells

LPrCb:

Lumbar precerebellar nucleus

PFl:

Paraflocculus

PM:

Paramedian lobule

S:

Sacral

Sim:

Simple lobule

SPrCb:

Sacral precerebellar nucleus

T:

Thoracic

vsc:

Ventral spinocerebellar tract

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Acknowledgments

George Paxinos is an National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Principal Research Fellow (SPRF). This project was supported by an NHMRC Australia Fellowship Grant awarded to George Paxinos (Grant #568605) and by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Foundation (ARC Centre Grant CE140100007).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no actual or potential conflict of interest.

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Author notes

  1. You Yu

    Present address: Department of Pediatric Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150001, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Ege University, Bornova, Izmir, 35100, Turkey

    Gulgun Sengul

  2. Neuroscience Research Australia, Sydney, NSW, 2031, Australia

    YuHong Fu, You Yu & George Paxinos

  3. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    YuHong Fu & George Paxinos

Authors
  1. Gulgun Sengul
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  2. YuHong Fu
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  3. You Yu
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  4. George Paxinos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gulgun Sengul.

Additional information

G. Sengul and Y. Fu have made an equal contribution to this work.

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Sengul, G., Fu, Y., Yu, Y. et al. Spinal cord projections to the cerebellum in the mouse. Brain Struct Funct 220, 2997–3009 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-014-0840-7

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