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Specification of Cerebellar and Precerebellar Neurons

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Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders

Abstract

The cerebellum is thought to participate in the regulation of movement and is comprised of various types of neurons in the cerebellar cortex and nuclei. Each type of neurons has morphologically, immunohistochemically, and electrophysiologically distinct characteristics. In addition, there are two precerebellar afferent systems, the mossy fiber (MF) system and the climbing fiber (CF) system. MF neurons are located in various nuclei throughout the brainstem and send their axons to cerebellar granule cells, whereas CF neurons reside exclusively in the inferior olivary nucleus (ION) and project to Purkinje cells. Recently developed genetic lineage-tracing methods as well as gene-transfer technologies have accelerated the studies on the molecular machinery to specify neuronal subtypes in the cerebellum and the precerebellar systems.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Cellular Biology, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, 4-1-1 Ogawa-Higashi, Kodaira, Tokyo, 187–8502, Japan

    Dr. Mikio Hoshino & Mayumi Yamada

  2. Integrative Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Okubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 169–8555, Japan

    Yusuke Seto

Authors
  1. Dr. Mikio Hoshino
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  2. Yusuke Seto
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  3. Mayumi Yamada
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mikio Hoshino .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Unité d'Etude du Mouvement (UEM), FNRS, Neurologie ULB Erasme, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Mario Manto

  2. Ataxia Unit, Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Jeremy D. Schmahmann

  3. Neuroscience Institute of the Cavalieri-Ottolenghi Foundation (NICO), University of Turin, Orbassano, Turin, Italy

    Ferdinando Rossi

  4. Molecular and Integrative Neuroscience Department (MIND), The Scripps Research Institute, California, CA, USA

    Donna L. Gruol

  5. Department of Integrative Physiolgy, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Noriyuki Koibuchi

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Hoshino, M., Seto, Y., Yamada, M. (2013). Specification of Cerebellar and Precerebellar Neurons. In: Manto, M., Schmahmann, J.D., Rossi, F., Gruol, D.L., Koibuchi, N. (eds) Handbook of the Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1333-8_5

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