Current Status of Neuroanatomical Research in the Cerebellum. In: Palay SL, Chan-palay V, editors. The Cerebellum—New Vistas. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 1982. pp. 1-7. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-68560-6_1]

Pharmacologic and therapeutic aspects of the developmentally regulated expression of GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors: cerebellar granule cells as a model system

Cerebellar granule neurons can be conveniently kept in culture. They constitute a useful model to study regulation of glutamatergic activity, in particular the inhibitory action of GABA (7-aminobutyrate). GABA exerts an inhibitory action on evoked transmitter release acting on both GABA(A) and GABA(B) receptors. The functional properties of these receptors are dependent upon the environment of the neurons during early development in culture as the expression of both receptor subtypes is enhanced by exposure of the neurons to GABA(A) receptor agonists. Thus, the inducible GABA(A) receptors are of low affinity and lack benzodiazepine sensitivity, and the G-protein coupling differs among the native and the inducible GABA(B) receptors. Moreover, the GABA(A) and the GABA(B) receptors are functionally coupled, leading to a disinhibitory action of GABA. Therefore drugs exhibiting selective agonist or antagonist action on subclasses of GABA(A) and GABA(B) may be of potential use as regulators of glutamatergic excitatory activity.

A quantitative study of the human cerebellum with unbiased stereological techniques

Estimates of total number of different neuron and glial cell types in the dentate nuclei and the four major regions of the human cerebellum were obtained by new stereological methods. With the optical disector and Cavalieri methods, the total number of neurons and glial cells in the human cerebellum of five elderly men was estimated to be 105,000 x 10(6) (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.13). Of this total, the granule cells comprised 101,000 x 10(6) (CV = 0.13) and the Purkinje cells comprised 30.5 x 10(6) (CV = 0.13) of the neurons. The mean of the total number of neurons in the dentate nucleus was 5.01 x 10(6) (CV = 0.28). The average surface area of the human cerebellum was estimated to be 1160 cm2 (CV = 0.29). The rationale for the different sampling schemes used to quantify the various cell types is described.