Incomplete regression of multiple climbing fibre innervation of cerebellar Purkinje cells in mGluR1 mutant mice

RECENT reports have suggested the existence of a causal relationship between impaired regression of multiple climbing fibre innervation and impaired motor coordination in protein kinase C gamma subunit (PKC gamma) mutant mice. In the present patch-clamp study, performed in thin cerebellar slices prepared from adult mutant mice deficient in metabotropic glutamate receptors of the mGluR1 subtype, only 15% of Purkinje cells remained multiply innervated by climbing fibres, but motor coordination was largely impaired in these animals. The present results do not preclude the existence of a causal relationship between impairement of regression of multiple innervation during development and improper motor coordination in the adult.