Lack of evidence for glial cells originating from the external granular layer in mouse cerebellum

Abstract

In 25 day mice cerebella, a quantitative electron microscopic analysis showed that glial cells were not seen among 749 cells counted in the molecular layer. Likewise, a light microscopic autoradiographic study showed that labelled oligodendroglia and/or astroglia in the cerebellum were not derived from the external granular layer (EGL). Previous claims, that these cells derived from the EGL, may have arisen because other cell types, i.e., endothelial cells, pericytes, microglia, and other ectopic granule cells may have been misidentified as oligodendroglia and/or astroglia. It seems likely that the EGL is a unique germinal cell layer in the mammalian nervous system because it gives rise only to neurons, whereas cerebellar astrocytes and oligodendrocytes are derived from the subventricular layer of the fourth ventricle, as first suggested by Cajal in 1911.