Influence of altered thyroid and nutritional states on early histogenesis of the rat cerebellar cortex with special reference to synaptogenesis.

On day of birth, the synaptic density of the rat cerebellar cortex in experimental, as compared to control, rats was slightly reduced or increased, respectively, after propylthiouracil treatment of the dam or thyroxine injection of the fetus. The stimulation of synaptogenesis in thyroxine-treated neonates was particularly obvious at the level of the ganglionic layer containing Purkinje cell bodies and was accompanied at the same level by accelerated growth of the presynaptic endings and perisomatic processes of the Purkinje cells. Undernourishment of the dam from day 6 of gestation led to an unexpected stimulation of synaptogenesis in the cerebellar cortex of the neonates; synaptic density was significantly increased above the normal value and much more markedly than in the thyroxine-treated neonates, but there was no abnormal proliferation of the neuronal processes. Different mechanisms underlay the transient stimulation of synaptogenesis in these two conditions. These results have been related to the disturbances in the development of Bergmann glia previously found soon after birth in altered thyroid and nutritional states.