Cytarabine and its effect on cerebellum of suckling mouse.

Suckling mice were injected with 30 mg/kg or 50 mg/kg body weight of cytarabine subcutaneously two, three, and four days after birth. Twenty-four hours after the final injection, these mice showed extensive necrosis of undifferentiated cells in the external granular layer of cerebellum. One or two weeks later, a new external granular layer regenerated but it did so only incompletely and regionally. The mice allowed to live longer showed impaired cerebellar function, cerebellar hypoplasia, and other malformations, including heterotopic granule cells in the molecular layer, irregularly arranged Purkinje cells, and scanty cellularity in the internal granular layer.