The Catecholamine Afferents to the Cerebellum

Abstract

One of the earliest indications that norepinephrine could be localized to the cerebellum was provided by the investigations of Pscheidt and Himwich (1963, 1965) on the avian brain. Fuxe (1965), in his study of amine distribution in brain slices by the Falck-Hillarp histofluorescence technique, reported the presence of small numbers of norepinephrine fibers in the cerebellar cortex. These studies were enlarged by the work of Andén et al. (1966) and Andén and Ungerstedt (1967). The presence of norepinephrine was then confirmed in the cerebellar cortex by the biochemical determinations of Iverson and Glowinski (1966). With improvements in technique and the use of both in vivo material and incubation of brain slices in various pharmacologic agents, Hökfelt and Fuxe (1969) demostrated a plexus of norepinephrine axons in the cerebellum. These were found to enter the cerebellum via the inferior peduncle and then to distribute all over the cerebellar cortex in a patchy manner, mainly to the anterior and posterior lobes.