Collateralization of climbing and mossy fibers projecting to the nodulus and flocculus of the rat cerebellum.

Collateralization of mossy and climbing fibers was investigated using cortical injections of cholera toxin b-subunit in the rat vestibulocerebellum. Injections were characterized by their retrograde labeling within the inferior olive. Collateral labeling was plotted using color-coded density profiles of the whole cerebellar cortex. Injections in the medial part of the nodulus resulted in olivary labeling that was restricted to the rostral part of the dorsal cap. Climbing fiber collaterals were found in medial and lateral nodular zones as well as in the ventral paraflocculus and adjacent flocculus. Injections in the intermediate part of the nodulus resulted in olivary labeling of the beta-subnucleus but could also involve the ventrolateral outgrowth. In the latter case, climbing fiber collaterals were found in the two floccular zones and in a small region in the lateral-most part of crus I. All nodular injections showed a bilaterally symmetric distribution of collateral mossy fiber rosettes that was mostly confined to the vestibulocerebellum and originated predominantly from the vestibular nuclei. Injections in the flocculus labeled the caudal part of the dorsal cap and/or the ventrolateral outgrowth. Mossy fiber rosettes were observed throughout the vestibulocerebellum but also included other regions of the cerebellar cortex in a bilaterally symmetric pattern corresponding with a more widespread precerebellar origin. Climbing fibers originating in the rostral dorsal cap, labeled from an injection in the ventral paraflocculus, collateralize to a medial and lateral zone in the nodulus. Climbing fiber collaterals were usually accompanied by subjacent labeling of mossy fiber rosettes. These results demonstrate that some nodular and floccular zones are related and, at least partially, share a common input. Copyright 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.