Influence Of Nutrition On Neural And Behavioral Development .4. Effects Of Infantile Undernutrition On Growth Of Cerebellum

AbstractThe morphological development of the cerebellum was examined with quantitative histological techniques in rats which were nursed from birth by mothers that had free access to food during lactation or were fed during that period 40 or 20% of the average ad lib diet. Little or no retardation was observed in the development of the cerebellum except in its germinal matrix (the external granular layer) at 11 days. At 17–21 days there was a substantial reduction in the migratory cells (precursors of granule neurons) and stationary cells (precursors of basket and stellate neurons) of the molecular layer, and in the differentiating granule cells of the internal granular layer. Associated with these reductions in cerebellar microneurons there was a significant decrease in the area occupied by the molecular and internal granular layers, the magnitude of which was a function of the severity of undernutrition. Between 30–60 days a total areal recovery was observed in the molecular and internal granular layers in the mildly undernourished rats and substantial compensation in the severely undernourished rats. This areal recovery was not due to a replacement of the lost cells but to an apparent compensatory increase of the “neuropil”.