On the development of the cerebellum of the trout, Salmo gairdneri. I. Patterns of cell migration.

Patterns of cell migration in the cerebellum of Salmo gairneri RICHARDSON, 1836 were studied in fish ranging in length from 4.5 to 230 mm. Sagittal and transverse series were stained with haematoxylin-eosin or according to Nissl or Golgi. The cerebellum of the trout comprises three main parts, i.e. the massive corpus cerebelli, the folded valvula cerebelli and the transversely oriented lobus vestibulolateralis. The early cerebellar anlage is a simple plate, which is delimited from the tectum mesencephali by the fissura rhombo-mesencephalica. The histogenesis may be divided into three phases. During the first phase the matrix layer produces the mantle layer. During the second phase the three typical cerebellar layers are formed. The third phase is characterized by growth. As regards the first phase, the mantle layer develops throughout almost the entire extent of the cerebellar anlage. Only in a narrow paramedian strip (matrix zone M) this layer does fail to appear. In regions where the mantle layer is formed, the matrix no longer occupies the whole width of the wall and is termed the ventricular matrix. The largest part of the ventricular matrix is gradually exhausted. However, in some places this matrix persists as a layer of proliferating cells. This holds for the matrices of the caudal border of the cerebellum; matrix zone L, surrounding the lateral recesses of the fourth ventricle, and matrix zone P, connecting the matrix zones L. The mantle layer produced in the first phase of histogensis mainly develops into the ganglionic layer. The second phase of histogenesis is characterized by the formation of a secondary matrix. Newly produced cells of the matrix zones M, L and P migrate away from their sites of origin towards the regions where a mantle layer prevsiously has been formed. The majority of these cells develops into granule cells. Migration of the cells produced in the first phase of histogenesis occurs in the radial direction. Because of the curvature of the cerebellum this direction changes with respect to the main longitudinal axis of the brain from region to region. The migration paths of granule cells show variable directions, namely (a) tangential followed by radial, for granule cells in the corpus cerebelli and in the medial parts of the valvula cerebelli and the lobus vestibulolaterialis, (b) tangential, for granule cells in the lateral parts of the valvula and (c) radial, for granule cells in the lateral parts of the lobus vestibulolateralis. The analysis of these migration patterns elucidates both the histogenesis and the morphogenesis of the cerebellum of the trout.