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Phospholipase Cβ4 Expression Identifies a Novel Subset of Unipolar Brush Cells in the Adult Mouse Cerebellum

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Abstract

Unipolar brush cells (UBCs) are glutamatergic cerebellar interneurons of the granular layer. Previous studies have shown that there are two distinct subsets of UBCs present in the mice cerebellar cortex: calcium-binding protein calretinin (CR) positive and metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR)1α positive. In this study, we identify phospholipase C (PLC) β4 as an antigenic marker of a novel subset of UBCs. Double immunolabeling reveals that none of the CR+ subset expresses PLCβ4. In contrast, most members of the mGluR1α subset also express PLCβ4. In addition, 65% of the PLCβ4+ subset does not express mGluR1α. Thus, there are three distinct UBC subsets in the mouse cerebellum: CR+/PLCβ4−/mGluR1α−, PLCβ4+/mGluR1α−/CR−, and mGluR1α+/PLCβ4+/CR−. Each has a different topographical distribution, both between lobules and mediolaterally within the vermis. The development of PLCβ4 expression in UBCs is exclusively postnatal—first seen only at P12 and mature at about 3 weeks. A distinct subset of PLCβ4+ UBCs is also present in primary cerebellar cultures.

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Acknowledgments

These studies were supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (RH).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology & Anatomy, Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1, Canada

    Seung-Hyuk Chung, Hassan Marzban & Richard Hawkes

  2. Genes and Development Research Group, Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 4N1, Canada

    Seung-Hyuk Chung, Hassan Marzban & Richard Hawkes

  3. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan

    Masahiko Watanabe

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  1. Seung-Hyuk Chung
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  2. Hassan Marzban
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  3. Masahiko Watanabe
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  4. Richard Hawkes
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Correspondence to Richard Hawkes.

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Chung, SH., Marzban, H., Watanabe, M. et al. Phospholipase Cβ4 Expression Identifies a Novel Subset of Unipolar Brush Cells in the Adult Mouse Cerebellum. Cerebellum 8, 267–276 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-009-0092-x

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