Plasticity of cerebellar parallel fibers following developmental deficits in synaptic number.
As demonstrated previously, a deficit in the number of cerebellar granule cells that is induced by pre-and postnatal malnutrition, results in fewer but larger synapses on Purkinje cells. Here, we report that the axons of granule cells compensate this loss by generating additional dense projections enlarging the presynaptic grids. This presynaptic response is directly related to the availability of the postsynaptic contact area of the target neurons which reaches a relatively constant amount during development.
D000818:Animals; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000254:growth & development / Q000473:pathology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D013569:Synapses / Q000473:pathology