Figure 5. Molecular layer thickness is abnormal in Ptf1a^Cre;Vglut2^fx/fx mutant cerebella during the early postnatal ages but recovers with age.

(a) At postnatal day 0, the Purkinje cell layer is thinner in Ptf1a^Cre;Vglut2^fx/fx mutants and VGLUT2 expression is not present in the Purkinje cell layer. (b) At postnatal day 7, the molecular layer is significantly thinner in the mutants and there is little to no VGLUT2 expression in the Purkinje cell layer (P=2.3 × 10⁻⁴). (c) At postnatal day 14, the Purkinje cell layer in Ptf1a^Cre;Vglut2^fx/fx mutants is only slightly thinner than the molecular layer of Vglut2^fx/fx controls and VGLUT2 expression is largely absent in the Purkinje cell layer. (d) At postnatal day 21, the Purkinje cell layer in Vglut2^fx/fx mice is nearly the same thickness as that observed in Ptf1a^Cre;Vglut2^fx/fx mice even though VGLUT2 expression is eliminated from the Purkinje cell layer. egl, external granular layer; pcl, Purkinje cell layer; igl, internal granular layer; ml, molecular layer; gl, granular layer. Scale bars (a''' and b'''), 20 μm. Scale bars (c''' and d'''), 50 μm.