Robain O, Wisniewski H M, Loo Y H, Wen G Y
Acta Neuropathol. 1983;61(3-4):313-5. doi: 10.1007/BF00692004.
In experimental phenylketonuria, induced in the rat by exposure to phenylacetate during the first 21 days of life, there was a significant reduction of boutons, a decrease of an average of 25% in the whole cerebellar molecular layer. Both the density of synaptic profiles per square unit and the number of synapses per unit volume were decreased in the phenylacetate-treated rat as compared to the age-matched control. Neuronal density was unaffected. Results are interpreted to show a deficit of synapses per neuron, probably due to a decrease in synaptic formation in phenylacetate-induced phenylketonuria. Undernutrition was eliminated as a contributing factor.
