A model of activity-dependent formation of cerebellar microzones

Abstract

According to modern views of the cerebellum in motor control, each cerebellar functional unit, or microzone, learns how to execute predictive and coordinative control, based on long-term depression of the granule cell-Purkinje cell synapses. In the present paper, in light of recent experimental and theoretical studies on synaptic elimination and cerebellar motor learning, a model of the formation of cerebellar microzones by climbing fiber synaptic elimination is proposed. It is shown that competition for an activity-dependent supply of neurotrophic factor can reproduce the spatio-temporal characteristics of climbing fiber synaptic elimination. It is further shown that when this elimination is accurate, motor coordination can be acquired in an arm reaching task. In view of the results of the present study, several predictions are proposed.