Cerebellar external granule cells are attached to the basal lamina from the onset of migration up to the end of their proliferative activity.

The development of cerebellar external granule cells in rats was studied from the time of demarcation of the cerebellar anlage on embryonal day 12 up to the time of their disappearance on postnatal day 20. Two types of cells were found. The first was orientated tangentially to the cerebellar surface and was characterized by a persistent contact to the basal lamina via an external process, with a lamellopodial tip and a cytoskeleton characteristic for migratory cells, and a retracting internal process featuring a single cilium. This cell type was the first to appear on embryonal day 14 in the caudolateral angle of the cerebellar anlage and, later, spread over the whole cerebellar surface. It disappeared after the external granular layer was completely expanded over the cerebellum. The second cell type appeared for the first time on embryonal day 16 in the caudal part of the cerebellar anlage and disappeared on postnatal day 20. It was orientated radially and also had contact with the basal lamina either with its cell body or with one or two short, radial processes, whose morphology differed from that of the external process of tangential cells by the absence of a lamellopodium and a prominent cytoskeleton. After postnatal day 17 contacts of external granule cells with the basal lamina decreased rapidly in length and number and were absent on postnatal day 20. We interpret these findings to indicate that tangential external granule cells are migrating before taking on a radial orientation characteristic for the mitotic cycle of proliferating external granule cells. In the light of increasing evidence implicating extracellular matrix in various developmental events of the nervous system we propose that the basal lamina of the cerebellum may be used as substrate and guidance structure by migrating external granule cells, and, furthermore, that the persistent contact with the basal lamina may mediate stimuli maintaining external granule cells in a proliferative state.