title: β-Catenin is critical for cerebellar foliation and lamination.
abstract: The cerebellum has a conserved foliation pattern and a well-organized layered structure. The process of foliation and lamination begins around birth. β-catenin is a downstream molecule of Wnt signaling pathway, which plays a critical role in tissue organization. Lack of β-catenin at early embryonic stages leads to either prenatal or neonatal death, therefore it has been difficult to resolve its role in cerebellar foliation and lamination. Here we used GFAP-Cre to ablate β-catenin in neuronal cells of the cerebellum after embryonic day 12.5, and found an unexpected role of β-catenin in determination of the foliation pattern. In the mutant mice, the positions of fissure formation were changed, and the meninges were improperly incorporated into fissures. At later stages, some lobules were formed by Purkinje cells remaining in deep regions of the cerebellum and the laminar structure was dramatically altered. Our results suggest that β-catenin is critical for cerebellar foliation and lamination. We also found a non cell-autonomous role of β-catenin in some developmental properties of major cerebellar cell types during specific stages.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroscience and Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Hong-Bin
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Hui-Fang
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Lou
authors.forename: Shumin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Duan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D006652:Histological Techniques; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D051176:beta Catenin; C528900:glial fibrillary astrocytic protein, mouse