CONSEQUENCES OF CEREBELLAR LESIONS AT EARLY AND LATER AGES - CLINICALRELEVANCE OF ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS

Animal experiments demonstrated that reactions of the brain after earl y lesions differ from those after lesions at adult age. Detailed knowl edge on the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological consequences of bra in lesions was obtained in humans and will be gained from lesion exper iments in animals. Prerequisites for extrapolating animal data to the clinical situation are discussed: knowledge on the maturational stage at which the lesion occurs and the behavioral expression of the damage d neural system. The extensive remodelling after early unilateral cere bellar hemispherectomy and its consequences for behavioural developmen t in the rat are presented and discussed.