Triiodothyronine Regulates Survival and Differentiation of Rat Cerebellar Granule Neurons

The effects of tri-iodothyronine (T3), which are known to affect cerebellar development, were tested on neuronal survival and differentiation of cultured cerebellar granule neurons. T3 in physiological concentrations increased both granule neuron survival after three days in culture and synaptic vesicle protein formation, as shown by immunostaining with antibodies against synaptophysin. Likewise, T3 increased the mRNA level for synapsin(I), but not that for GAP43 in granule neurons. Antibodies against microtubule associated protein Tau, which is expressed in developing neurites, showed that T3 also enhanced neurite formation.