Author(s): Kazuhiko Sawada and Yoshihiro Fukui
The present study examined the development of the axonal torpedoes of the cerebellar Pur-kinje cells in a Cav2.1 channel mutant, rolling mouse Nagoya. Calbindin D-28k immunostain-ing revealed a few torpedoes in both the cerebellar white matter and all three subdivisions of the deep cerebellar nuclei of rolling mice on postnatal day (PD) 21, while there was no differ-ence in either number among the age-matched controls. On PD 120, the number of torpedoes drastically increased in the white matter of rolling mice. Their numbers in the deep cerebel-lar nuclei also increased in rolling mice during PDs 21 to 120 with no change in their distri-butions. These results suggest that the axonal torpedoes develop progressively with aging in non-specific populations of Purkinje cells in the rolling mouse cerebellum.