Purkinje cells located in the adult zebrafish valvula cerebelli exhibit variable functional responses

Weipang Chang,Reinhard W Köster,Stefania Giacomello,Andrea Pedroni,Konstantinos Ampatzis

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-98035-3

Abstract

Purkinje cells are critically involved in processing the cerebellar functions by shaping and coordinating commands that they receive. Here, we demonstrate experimentally that in the adult zebrafish valvular part of the cerebellum, the Purkinje cells exhibited variable firing and functional responses and allowed the categorization into three firing classes. Compared with the Purkinje cells in the corpus cerebelli, the valvular Purkinje cells receive weak and occasional input from the inferior olive and are not active during locomotion. Together, our findings expand further the regional functional differences of the Purkinje cell population and expose their non-locomotor functionality.

Highlights

Purkinje cells are critically involved in processing the cerebellar functions by shaping and coordinating commands that they receive
To gain insight into the potential regional organization of the adult zebrafish cerebellum, we focused on the Purkinje cell population located in the less accessible region of the lateral part of the valvula cerebelli (Val), which is the anterior-most part of the cerebellar Purkinje cell layer (Fig. 1a)[20,21]
Because a hallmark of all corpus cerebelli (CCe) Purkinje cells is to discharge numerous calcium-based spikes upon long and strong current step d epolarizations[12,24], we examined whether the valvular Purkinje cells possess this fundamental property

Summary

Introduction

Purkinje cells are critically involved in processing the cerebellar functions by shaping and coordinating commands that they receive. Four functionally and morphologically distinct populations of Purkinje cells have been recognized to exist in the adult zebrafish corpus cerebellum, which is considered functionally comparable to mammalian spinocerebellum that display particular temporal activity during locomotion[12]. In contradiction to the current view that requires most or all of the Purkinje cells to be active during locomotion, we show that none of the valvular cerebelli Purkinje cells discharge during swimming. This result further corroborates the functional difference of the valvula from the corpus cerebelli

Methods

Results

Conclusion