Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2011 Apr;21(2):245-53. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2011.01.009. Epub 2011 Feb 24.
The cerebellar cortical circuit with its organized and repetitive structure provides an excellent model system for studying how brain circuits are formed during development. The emergence of the mature brain requires that appropriate synaptic connections are formed and refined, which in the rodent cerebellum occurs primarily during the first three postnatal weeks. Developing circuits typically differ substantially from their mature counterparts, which suggests that development may not simply involve synaptic refinement, but rather involves restructuring of key synaptic components and network connections, in a manner reminiscent of metamorphosis. Here, we discuss recent evidence that, taken together, suggests that transient features of developing cerebellar synapses may act to coordinate network activity, and thereby shape the development of the cerebellar microcircuit.
小脑皮质回路具有组织化和重复性的结构，为研究大脑回路在发育过程中是如何形成的提供了一个极好的模型系统。成熟大脑的出现需要形成和完善适当的突触连接，在啮齿动物小脑，这主要发生在出生后的前三周。发育中的回路通常与成熟的回路有很大的不同，这表明发育过程可能不仅仅涉及突触的细化，而是涉及关键突触成分和网络连接的重构，这种方式类似于变态。在这里，我们讨论了最近的证据，这些证据表明，发育中小脑突触的短暂特征可能共同作用来协调网络活动，从而塑造小脑微回路的发育。
