Selective Purkinje cell ectopia in the cerebellum of the weaver mouse

The adult mouse cerebellar vermis consists of four transverse zones, each of which is further subdivided into parasagittal stripes. In the adult weaver (wv/wv) mouse, the zebrin II expression pattern in the cerebellar vermis is abnormal, consistent with the absence of a central zone (approximately lobules VI/VII). Because the small, heat shock protein HSP25 is a constitutive marker of parasagittal bands of Purkinje cells in the caudal central zone and the nodular zone (approximately lobules IX/X), we used HSP25 immunocytochemistry to show that the patterning abnormalities in wv/wv reflect selective Purkinje cell ectopia rather than the absence of the central zone. A specific HSP25-immunopositive Purkinje cell ectopia within the central zone was identified. Symmetrical clusters of HSP25-immunopositive Purkinje cells, which presumably would have formed the parasagittal stripes in the wild type, are present ectopically on either side of the midline in wv/wv. In contrast, in the nodular zone, HSP25-immunopositive Purkinje cells form a near-monolayer and are organized into parasagittal stripes. We therefore conclude that specific Purkinje cell clusters in the wv/wv cerebellum fail to disperse and that this ectopia contributes to the topographical abnormalities.