Cholinergic innervation of the human cerebellum

Abstract

Cholinergic innervation of the human cerebellum was investigated immunocytochemically by using a polyclonal rabbit antiserum against choline acetyltransferase. Immunoreactive structures were found throughout the cerebellar cortex but were localized predominantly in the vermis, flocculus, and tonsilla. These included 1) a population of Golgi cells in the granular layer; 2) a subpopulation of mossy fibers and glomerular rosettes; 3) thin, varicose fibers closely associated with the Purkinje cell layer and the molecular layer; and 4) a relatively dense network of fibers and terminals contributing to the glomerular formations in the granular layer. In the cerebellar nuclei, some cells stained positively for choline acetyltransferase, and a terminal field pattern could be detected with a distinct but sparse network of varicose fibers. Acetylcholine appears to be a primary transmitter in the vestibulocerebellar pathways at several levels, which may account for the potent effects of muscarinic antagonists in diminishing vestibular vertigo in humans.

Chemically defined projections linking the mediobasal hypothalamus and the lateral hypothalamic area

“…Following fixation, brains were blocked in the coronal plane and immersed in 20% sucrose in PBS azide. Similar to previous studies from our laboratory, brains were sectioned on a freezing microtome at 50 µm (1:24 series) and were stored in PBS azide at 4°C until immunohistochemical processing (De Lacalle et al, 1993Holt et al, 1997;Lim et al, 1997a,b). All subjects died from nonneurologic causes and were judged to be normal neurologically at the time of death (see Table 1).…”

“…The tissue sections were mounted onto subbed slides, air dried, dehydrated in alcohol, cleared in xylene, and then coverslipped with Permaslip. Prior to coverslipping, the DAB reaction product was intensified by using a silver-gold intensification procedure that has been described previously (Breder et al, 1992(Breder et al, , 1995De Lacalle et al, 1993).…”

Intravenous lipopolysaccharide induces cyclooxygenase 2-like immunoreactivity in rat brain perivascular microglia and meningeal macrophages

“…The tissue sections were mounted onto subbed slides, air dried, dehydrated in alcohol, and cleared in xylene. The DAB reaction product was intensified using a silver-gold intensification procedure described previously (Breder et al, 1992(Breder et al, , 1995de Lacalle et al, 1993) and then coverslipped with Permaslip. The COX 2 primary antiserum has been previously characterized by preadsorption and Western blotting experiments in the rat brain (Breder et al, 1995).…”

Neurotransmitters and Neuropeptides in the Developing Human Central Nervous System

“…In studies of the cerebellum of animals and humans, it has been reported that cholinergic neurons in the cerebellum were mostly Golgi cells and deep cerebellar neurons, although some mossy fibers were also found to be cholinergic [1][2][3]. In our laboratory, studies using an antiserum against choline acetyl transferase, an enzyme of the cholinergic pathway, indicated that cholinergic neurons were mainly localized in the cerebellar cortex and the deep cerebellar nuclei of 23-week-old human fetuses with immunoreactivity increasing in intensity towards term.…”