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Moderate loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells after chronic bilateral common carotid artery occlusion in rats

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Abstract

Pathological effects of moderate ischemia (oligemia, hypoperfusion) are relevant in relation to vascular factors in dementia. Chronic bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (BCCAO) in adult Wistar rats induces oligemia and leads to acute changes in gene expression, subacute changes in cortical astrocytes and prolonged changes in white matter tracts, while largely sparing neurons in the forebrain areas. Dilation and remodeling of the basilar artery ensures blood flow to the forebrain. The present study examined the hypoxia-sensitive Purkinje cells in the cerebellum after 6 months of BCCAO using conventional neuropathological analysis, immunohistochemistry and high-precision design-based stereologic methods. Purkinje cells in the vermis region revealed abnormally shaped nuclei. A stereologic analysis showed that the mean total number of Purkinje cells within the vermis was statistically significantly smaller in the BCCAO animals than in the control animals (d = 11.8%; P < 0.0001). BCCAO had no significant effect on the mean volumes of the molecular layer, granule cell layer and white matter in the vermis or the entire cerebellum. Remodeling of the basilar artery indicated that secondary vascular perturbations might be responsible for the effects of BCCAO on the cerebellar Purkinje cells.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Helga Helten and Susanne Echterhagen for their excellent technical assistance. This study was supported by the US Public Health Service grant NS 05820-S361. C.S. was supported by the US National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and the Internationale Stichting Alzheimer Onderzoek (ISAO, The Netherlands).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Orsolya Kántor, Judith Feiser & Hubert Korr

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Division of Cellular Neuroscience, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Christoph Schmitz, Ivona Brasnjevic & Rainald Schmidt-Kastner

  3. European Graduate School of Neuroscience (EURON), Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Christoph Schmitz, Ivona Brasnjevic, Hubert Korr & Rainald Schmidt-Kastner

  4. Department of Neurology D4-5, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Raul Busto, Myron D. Ginsberg & Rainald Schmidt-Kastner

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  1. Orsolya Kántor
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Correspondence to Rainald Schmidt-Kastner.

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Kántor, O., Schmitz, C., Feiser, J. et al. Moderate loss of cerebellar Purkinje cells after chronic bilateral common carotid artery occlusion in rats. Acta Neuropathol 113, 549–558 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-007-0204-y

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