Development of Purkinje cells in the ovine brain

Purkinje cells are involved in many vital functions within the body. Twenty ovine
fetuses ranging from 2 to 5 months of gestation, two lambs in the first week after
birth and three adult sheep were studied. Sections of the cerebellum were stained
with haematoxylin and eosin, cresyl violet and Klu¨ver–Barrera. This study indicates
that Purkinje cells began to appear after the 15th week of gestation. There
were varying degrees of development of Purkinje cells in different zones of the
cerebellum. Our findings in sheep fetuses suggest that the maturation of Purkinje
cells starts in the caudal regions of the cerebellum and that the process begins in
the vermis before it does in the cerebellar hemispheres. The alignment of Purkinje
cells was found to be very regular in the caudal regions of the cerebellum. A
partial absence of Purkinje cells in the rostral regions of the cerebellum was
observed in both sheep fetuses and adult sheep. In the first post-natal week, some
ectopic Purkinje cells were found in the white matter of the cerebellum.