Alterations in Clarke's column secondary to granule cell degeneration in the neurological mutant mice,weaver and staggerer

In the neurological mutants weaver and staggerer, the granule cells either do not successfully migrate into the granular (weaver) or, having migrated, die during the second postnatal week (staggerer). We wished to determine if the resulting agranular cortex might produce retrograde transneuronal changes in the spinal cord similar to the changes observed after neonatal hemicerebellectomy. Golgi analysis of Clarke's column indicates that neurons in weaver are affected; neurons in staggerer are not. These observations support the view that neuronal maturation requires the presence of a target nucleus during ‘critical’ postnatal growth periods.