Advances on age-related changes in the structure of cerebellar cortex

Aging process results in significantly morphological alterations in cerebellar cortex such as shrinkage of the volume,decrease of the weight,decline in cortical thickness,loss of the neurons,atrophy in the neuronal dendrites,degenerations in the cellular ultrastructure,disorder in the neurotransmitter system,and hyperplasia of the neuroglia. Among those,loss of neurons,degeneration of the cellular conformation and imbalance in the neurotransmitter has long been considered as principal causes for age-related disorder of cerebellar circuitry,which might correlate with the impairments of motor control and motor learning in the aging individuals. Age-related enhancements of glial activity might provide protect actions to the aging neurons.