Postnatal development of the cerebellar cortex in the rat. V. Spatial organization of purkinje cell perikarya

The development of the spatial organization of Purkinje cell perikarya was examined in the rat cerebellum from birth to adulthood. Dispersion of the perikarya following birth is made possible by the rapid expansion of the cortical surface. Their subsequent regular monocellular alignment is ensured by mechanical factors, the pressure exerted from below by the expanding granular layer and the barrier formed above by the pile of parallel fibers which prevent the penetration of the bulky perikarya into the molecular layer. The perikarya remain in this position even after the slender stem dendrite pierces the molecular layer along the descending axons of basket cells. The increase in interperikaryal distance between Purkinje cells is rapid up to day 12, then declines. This is temporally associated with the growth of the basket cell plexus and glial envelope around the perikaryon. The increase in perikaryal size continues up to day 30. This may be temporally associated with the growth of the Purkinje cell dendritic arbor as reflected by the expansion of the molecular layer up to day 30. The spatial arrangement of Purkinje cells within the monocellular sheet was graphically displayed with computer aid. In the adult cerebellum a hexagonal arrangement could be recognized in a proportion of "near-neighborhoods," consisting of about six Purkinje cells and their neighbors. When the neighborhoods were extended with fixed orientation with respect to the axis of the folium, the hexagonal arrangement disappeared. When orientation was ignored, the superimposed near-neighborhoods could be rotated to produce a hexagonal pattern. In the infant cerebellum the hexagonal arrangement could not be demonstrated before the alignment of Purkinje cells in a monolayer. Thereafter there appeared to be an increase with age in the proportion of hexagonally arranged near-neighborhoods. It was concluded that in the monocellular ganglionic layer Purkinje cells are not aligned in regular rows with respect to the geometrically arranged elements of the supraganglionic layer. The formation of an imprecise hexagonal pattern, like the alignment of Purkinje cells in a monolayer, was attributed to mechanical factors.