Cerebellar Purkinje cells provide target support over a limited spatial range: evidence from lurcher chimeric mice

The distribution of Purkinje cells, granule cells, and olivary neurons was quantitatively analyzed in a lurcher +/Lc in equilibrium C3H/HeJ chimera in which the surviving wild type Purkinje cells were unilaterally distributed in the left hemicerebella. The left hemisphere of this mouse contains 7600 Purkinje cells, approximately 10% of the number of Purkinje cells in inbred C3H/HeJ mice. The right hemisphere contains 300 Purkinje cells, all of which are found within 200 microns of the midline. As in other +/Lc in equilibrium wild type chimeras, the ratio of granule cells to Purkinje cells is increased in the left hemisphere, reflecting increased granule cell survival. In the right hemisphere, however, the number of granule cells is reduced to that found in +/Lc mutants. In the inferior olive, almost twice as many neurons are found in the right nucleus as opposed to the left nucleus. As the projections of olivary neurons are crossed, the number of olivary neurons is increased in the nuclei that project to the cerebellar hemisphere containing Purkinje cells compared to the olivary nuclei that project to the cerebellar hemisphere with almost no Purkinje cells. The preferential survival of granule cells and olivary neurons that either occupy or project to the hemicerebellum containing Purkinje cells suggests that the availability of trophic support from target Purkinje cell neurons is spatially restricted.