Development and histological features of cerebellum

Cerebellum is an organ attached to the brain stem at the back of the brain inside the skull. It coordinates body motion and harmonious muscle function; arranges learning and memory; and controls body balance. The cerebellum is anatomically divided into two parts: gray and white matters and it contains various types of cells histologically. Embryologically, there are some structural differences between the cerebellar cells of the histogenesis period and adult cerebellar cells, the first appear by the formation of cerebellar draft while the latter are formed during differentiation and maturation of the corresponding embryonic neuronal cells. In this chapter, the histological and embryological features of the cerebellum will be discussed in details with special reference on its neurofunctional connections. In particular, the chapter contains a variety of figures of cerebellar sections stained with histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques for a better understanding of the topic. © 2012 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.