DIFFERENTIATION OF BERGMANN GLIA CELLS IN CEREBELLUM - GOLGI STUDY

The migration of Bergmann glia cells from the external granular layer to the Purkinje cell layer and the differentiation of their processes were analyzed in Golgi-Cox preparations of the cerebellum of the rat. During their migration they showed numerous cytoplasmic excrescences and long thick processes, which suggested that they may use ameboid movement for their migration. The differentiation of their processes involved a series of complex events related to retraction of the thick apical processes from the tips of which sheaves of filiform processes emerged, growth in the number and the thickness of the filiform processes, resorption of some of these filiform processes, cyclic changes in the appearance, resorption and reappearance of excrescences on the filiform processes and changes in size and shape of the growth cones. The role played by the Bergmann glia cells in postnatal developmental events in the cerebellum and the dynamic nature of differentiation of their processes was discussed.