Rapid ReportThe human dentate nucleus: a complex shape untangled
Section snippets
Experimental procedures
Four human cerebella were obtained from the Witelson Normal Brain Collection (Witelson and McCulloch, 1991). All had been stored in 10% formalin. The cerebella were dissected away from the brainstem and cut into two halves along the midsagittal plane. They were then cryoprotected in 15% and then 30% sucrose in 10% formalin, embedded in an albumin–gelatin matrix and stored in 30% sucrose/10% formalin until sectioning. Serial sections in the parasagittal plane were collected and stored at 4 °C in
Results and discussion
We wished to validate the proposed division of the human dentate into structurally unique dorsal and ventral parts. We therefore quantified the dentate lamina thickness as this is the most salient distinguishing morphological parameter used so far (Voogd et al., 1990). We built a detailed three dimensional model of the human dentate from serial Nissl-stained sections (Fig. 1B1–3), and compared this to a model of the lateral nucleus (the equivalent of the dentate in monkeys) of the rhesus monkey
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Sandra F. Witelson for the gift of the human cerebella from the Witelson normal brain collection. Archana Jayakumar and Ginger Lasky provided invaluable technical assistance with the human histology. Supported in part by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University at Buffalo, by the German science foundation (DFG) and by the Hertie foundation.
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