Cerebello-vestibular connections of the anterior vermis. A retrograde tracer study in different mammals including primates

Abstract

Purkinje cells were retrogradely labelled from large injections of wheatgerm-coupled horseradish peroxidase in the vestibular nuclei, including Deiters' nucleus. The labelled Purkinje cells were located in two parallel strips in the anterior vermis; the medial strip is located within the A-zone, the lateral strip corresponds to the B-zone. In the ventral part of the anterior lobe the two strips fuse into a single band, in the dorsal part of the anterior lobe they are separated by a wedge-shaped area, corresponding to the X-zone. The B-zone proceeds in the simple lobule, where it deviates laterally and where it terminates at the centre of the ansoparamedian lobule. Identical zonal patterns were observed in cat, rabbit, rat and monkey. The demarcation of the anterior vermis by the lateral border of the B-zone, and the differences in the projection of the A and B-zone are briefly discussed.