Glial fiber pattern in the developing chicken cerebellum: vimentin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunostaining.

The possible relation between glial fibers and the formation of longitudinal granule cell migration patterns that occur in the cerebellar anlage of the chicken was investigated by immunocytochemistry of vimentin (monoclonal antibody) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (polyclonal antibody against GFAP, PGF) on fixed and unfixed brain tissues. In addition, neuronal development was studied with a monoclonal antibody for neurofilament. Vimentin was present in radial and tangential fibers in the cerebellar anlage during granule cell migration in almost all parts of the anlage. However, no specific topographic relation of vimentin and GFAP to the migration pattern of granule cells was observed. In adults, Bergmann fibers and astroglia were stained with vimentin antiserum and not with GFAP antiserum. Conclusions are that radial fibers do not determine the formation of longitudinal cytoarchitectonic patterns in the chick cerebellum and that vimentin is the main cytoskeletal component of Bergmann fibers and astroglial cells in embryonic and adult chicken cerebellum.