Transplantation of embryonic olive in the climbing-fiber-deprived adult rat cerebellum: synaptogenesis on host Purkinje dendritic spines by donor climbing fibers.

Synaptic formation by donor climbing fibers on the host Purkinje spines was observed in our experiments. In the adult rat cerebellum where the inferior olive and climbing fibers had been destroyed by intraperitoneal injection of 3-acetylpyridine, the medullary embryonic 14-16-day (E14-E16) tissue containing the olive was grafted. After 3 weeks, climbing-fiber-type preterminals bearing closely-packed round vesicles were found that established synaptic contacts on dendritic spines of the host Purkinje cells. Quantitative analysis indicates the increment of newly-formed climbing presynaptic terminals, the number of which was statistically significant (P less than 0.01).