The experimental model of cisplatin treatment provides the opportunity to identify the precise function of the neurotransmitters in some crucial events of brain development, and their interactions or modulatory roles. The serotonin and noradrenaline monoamines influence the formation of the cerebellar cortex circuitry. In this study we found changes in the expression of the serotonin and noradrenaline receptors after a single injection of cisplatin in 10-day-old rats. The growth of Pc dendrites was early altered in lobules VI-VIII of cerebellum vermis. In these lobules, at postnatal day (PD) 17, the cisplatin-induced increase of the serotoninergic receptor 5-HT2AR, a factor that inhibits Pc dendrite growth by acting post-synaptically, occurred in all cerebellar layers, suggesting also alteration of granule cell proliferation and migration. The decreased labelling of beta l adrenergic receptor (beta1AR) in the soma of some Pc at PD11 can be correlated with the altered expression of glutamate receptors and GAD65 (glutamic acid decarboxylase) of and on Pc we have previously described [Pisu, M.B., Guioli, S., Conforti, E., Bernocchi, G., 2003. Signal molecules and receptors in the differential development of cerebellum lobules. Acute effects of cisplatin on nitric oxide and glutamate system in Purkinje cell population. Dev. Brain Res. 145, 229-240; Pisu, M.B., Roda, E., Avella, D., Bernocchi, G., 2004. Developmental plasticity of rat cerebellar cortex after cisplatin injury: inhibitory synapses and differentiating Purkinje neurons. Neuroscience 129, 655-664]. Moreover, beta1AR seems to be the key factor in the cerebellar reorganization between PD17 and PD30. The expression of this receptor was maintained in the molecular layer (ML), in particular in the inhibitory interneurons, despite their different distributions. The labelling of 5-HT1AR in the ML areas lacking Pc dendrite branches could contribute to the recovery phase of the cerebellar cytoarchitecture in cisplatin-treated rats. In general these findings should be taken into consideration in therapeutic interventions for developmental CNS disorders with a morphological basis.