Cellular localization of the Ca2+-binding protein parvalbumin in the developing avian cerebellum

Summary The appearance and distribution of the calciumbinding protein parvalbumin was investigated immunocytochemically at different postnatal developmental stages of the zebra finch cerebellum. Purkinje, basket and stellate, but not granule neurons or glial cells were labeled by an antiserum against chicken parvalbumin. At all developmental stages investigated immunostained Purkinje cells were found in clusters separated by spaces containing unstained large cells, probably Purkinje and Golgi type-II cells, and unstained smaller cells resembling granule neurons. Perisomatic processes, dendrites and spines of Purkinje cells were heavily immunoreactive. Axons of Purkinje cells were observed to be parvalbumin-positive throughout their entire length until developmental stage D 24, i.e., 10 days after hatching. Their immunoreactivity gradually decreased up to adulthood, when only their proximal portions, in addition to a few punctate structures in the internal granular layer and in the deep cerebellar nuclei presumably representing the synaptic terminals, remained immunoreactive. This decrease in immunoreactivity might be related to progressive maturation and/or degree of myelination. The developmental expression of parvalbumin immunoreactivity and its ultrastructural localization in spines, postsynaptic densities and on microtubular elements leads to several suggestions concerning the possible function of parvalbumin in neurons. In outgrowing dendrites and axons the protein might be involved in the regulation of the synthesis of membrane components, their intracellular transport and fusion of new membrane components into the plasmalemma, events that are Ca- and/or Mg-dependent. In spines and postsynaptic densities parvalbumin might be involved in the development and regulation of synaptic activities in Ca-spiking elements such as the inhibitory Purkinje cells, and possibly also in stellate and basket cells. Furthermore, in developing and adult neurons parvalbumin might be involved in the Ca-/Mg-regulation of a variety of enzymatic activities and hence influence the alteration of the intracellular metabolic potential in response to extracellular signals.This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SPP Verhaltensontogenie and by the Swiss National Science Foundation, Grant No. 3.185-0.82