Postnatal development and synapse elimination of climbing fiber to Purkinje cell projection in the cerebellum.
Cerebellar climbing fiber (CF) to Purkinje cell (PC) synapses in rodents provides a good model to study mechanisms underlying postnatal development of synaptic functions and elimination of redundant synapses in the central nervous system. At birth, each PC is innervated by multiple CFs. Then, single CF input is selected, matured and strengthened, while surplus CFs are eliminated. By the end of the third postnatal week, most PCs become innervated by single CFs. This up-date article aims to provide an overview of recent studies on the mechanisms of this process.
Hashimoto
Kouichi
K
Department of Cellular Neurophysiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa University, 13-1 Takara-machi, Kanazawa 920-8640, Japan. hashik@cns.med.osaka-u.ac.jp
Kano
Masanobu
M
D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001369:Axons / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002525:Cerebellar Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*; D051379:Mice; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology