The cerebellar nucleo-olivary and olivo-cerebellar nuclear projections in the cat as studied with anterograde and retrograde transport in the same animal after implantation of crystalline WGA-HRP. I. The dentate nucleus.

The implantation technique described by Mori et al. has been modified for the implantation of crystalline wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) complex. This method permits a detailed analysis of the afferent and efferent connections of the cerebellar nuclei without the complication of uptake and transport of the tracer into passing fibres. We have used this method for studies of the olivo-dentate and dentato-olivary projections in the cat. After implantation of WGA-HRP into the dentate nucleus in all our cases, both anterogradely labelled terminal dentato-olivary fibres and retrogradely labelled olivo-dentate neurons were found in the contralateral inferior olive. It appears from our findings that both projections are topically organized. The dorsal part of dentate nucleus is bidirectionally connected with the rostral part of the principal olive, the ventrolateral part of the dentate is connected with the intermediate portion of the principal olive, while its ventromedial part is connected with the caudal portion of the principal olive. The olivo-dentate and dentato-olivary connections appear to be largely reciprocally organized. The advantages and drawbacks encountered with implantation of crystalline WGA-HRP are discussed, and our observations are considered in relation to previous studies on the olivo-cerebellar and cerebello-olivary connections.