Morphologic investigation of rolling mouse Nagoya (tg(rol)/tg(rol)) cerebellar Purkinje cells: an ataxic mutant, revisited.

Rolling mouse Nagoya (rolling: tg(rol)) is a neurologic mutant mouse exhibiting severe ataxia. Two alleles of the rolling mutation, tottering (tg) and leaner(tg(la)), have been identified as mutations in the voltage-dependent calcium channel alpha1A subunit. No specific light and electron microscopic findings have been reported for the rolling mouse cerebellum except a decreased number of granule cells, while altered Purkinje cell/parallel fiber synapses have been observed in tottering and leaner cerebella. Rolling mouse cerebella were analyzed using anti-calbindin-D immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy to investigate Purkinje cell morphology and synaptic contacts between Purkinje cell dendritic spines and parallel fiber varicosities. Multiple Purkinje cell dendritic spines synapsing with single parallel fiber varicosities were frequently observed in rolling cerebella. The correlation between the presence of altered Purkinje cell synapses and ataxia in rolling mice warrants further investigation.