Local circuitry in the anterior caudal lobe of the mormyrid cerebellum: A study of intracellular recording and labeling

Abstract

Sagittal view of a Purkinje cell with symmetric dendritic tree from the anterior caudal lobe of the cerebellum of a mormyrid fish (Gnathonemus petersii). The cell was filled with neurobiotin in an in vitro slice preparation and tracer was revealed with red fluorescent dye. Nissl counterstaining is shown in green. The cell was photographed from a slice of 200 μm using a confocal laser scanning microscope. The cell body is located in the anterior border with the eminentia granularis anterior (upper right), and the axon was cut, probably projecting to the brainstem (for details see text). The dendritic tree is planar, extending for 500x700 μm in the sagittal plane, but only for 110 μm (optical thickness) medio‐laterally. Two smooth primary dendrites arise from the soma and give off secondary and tertiary branches irregularly in the molecular region. The dendrites become thinner and more spiny as they extend further from the cell body. J. Comp. Neurol. 509:1–22, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.