title: Neurodevelopmental Malformations of the Cerebellar Vermis in Genetically Engineered Rats.
abstract: The cerebellar vermis is particularly vulnerable to neurodevelopmental malformations in humans and rodents. Sprague-Dawley, and Long-Evans rats exhibit spontaneous cerebellar malformations consisting of heterotopic neurons and glia in the molecular layer of the vermis. Malformations are almost exclusively found along the primary fissure and are indicative of deficits of neuronal migration during cerebellar development. In the present report, we test the prediction that genetically engineered rats on Sprague-Dawley or Long-Evans backgrounds will also exhibit the same cerebellar malformations. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that three different transgenic lines on two different backgrounds had cerebellar malformations. Heterotopia in transgenic rats had identical cytoarchitecture as that observed in wild-type rats including altered morphology of Bergmann glia. In light of the possibility that heterotopia could affect results from behavioral studies, these data suggest that histological analyses be performed in studies of cerebellar function or development when using genetically engineered rats on these backgrounds in order to have more careful interpretation of experimental findings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Northern Boulevard, PO Box 8000, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA. rramos02@nyit.edu.
authors.forename: Raddy L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Ramos
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Northern Boulevard, PO Box 8000, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Van Dine
authors.affiliation: Toxicity Assessment Division, Neurotoxicology Branch, US Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gilbert
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Northern Boulevard, PO Box 8000, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA.
authors.forename: Joerg R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Leheste
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Osteopathic Medicine, New York Institute of Technology, Northern Boulevard, PO Box 8000, Old Westbury, NY, 11568, USA.
authors.forename: German
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Torres
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D065814:Cerebellar Vermis / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D055647:Rats, Transgenic; D013045:Species Specificity
keywords: Heterotopia; Malformation; Neuronal migration; Vermis