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The number of Purkinje neurons and their topology in the cerebellar vermis of normal and reln haplodeficient mouse.

Authors :
Magliaro, Chiara
Cocito, Carolina
Bagatella, Stefano
Merighi, Adalberto
Ahluwalia, Arti
Lossi, Laura
Source :
Annals of Anatomy; Sep2016, Vol. 207, p68-75, 8p
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

The Reeler heterozygous mice ( reln +/− ) are haplodeficient in the gene ( reln ) encoding for the reelin glycoprotein (RELN) and display reductions in brain/peripheral RELN similar to autistic or schizophrenic patients. Cytoarchitectonic alterations of the reln +/− brain may be subtle, and are difficult to demonstrate by current histological approaches. We analyzed the number and topological organization of the Purkinje neurons (PNs) in five vermal lobules – central (II–III), culmen (IV–V), tuber (VIIb), uvula (IX), and nodulus (X) – that process different types of afferent functional inputs in reln +/+ and reln +/− adult mice (P60) of both sexes ( n = 24). Animals were crossed with L7GFP mice so that the GFP-tagged PNs could be directly identified in cryosections. Digital images from these sections were processed with different open source software for quantitative topological and statistical analyses. Diversity indices calculated were: maximum caliper, density, area of soma, dispersion along the XZ axis, and dispersion along the YZ axis. We demonstrate: i. reduction in density of PNs in reln +/− males (14.37%) and reln +/− females (17.73%) compared to reln +/+ males; ii. that reln +/− males have larger PNs than other genotypes, and females (irrespective of the reln genetic background) have smaller PNs than reln +/+ males; iii. PNs are more chaotically arranged along the YZ axis in reln +/− males than in reln +/+ males and, except in central lobulus, reln +/− females. Therefore, image processing and statistics reveal previously unforeseen gender and genotype-related structural differences in cerebellum that may be clues for the definition of novel biomarkers in human psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
09409602
Volume :
207
Database :
Supplemental Index
Journal :
Annals of Anatomy
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
117646385
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aanat.2016.02.009