Catecholaminergic fiber sprouting in granuloprival coeruleo-cerebellar cultures.

Neonatal mouse coeruleo-cerebellar explants exposed to cytosine arabinoside to destroy granule cell precursors demonstrated sprouting of catecholaminergic fibers after 15 days in vitro. Levels of dopamine in granuloprival coeruleo-cerebellar cultures were more than twice those of control cultures. As granuloprival cerebellar cultures also demonstrate Purkinje cell axon collateral sprouting, the granuloprival coeruleo-cerebellar system, in which there is sprouting of two different neuronal groups, may provide a model to investigate the nature and specificity of the signal or signals that induce axonal sprouting.