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Purkinje cell
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The middle layer of the cerebellar cortex is named after a single cell, and that says a lot: the Purkinje cell. These are large neurons, and they are classified as Golgi type I.
Its shape explains its job. Going up, its dendrites, which are the branches a neuron uses to receive signals, reach into the molecular layer and spread out into multiple branches, like a fan. Going down, out come its axons, the fibers a neuron uses to send its signal: they are long, they cross the granular layer, enter the white matter, become myelinated, meaning they get wrapped in an insulating sheath, and end in the intracerebellar nuclei, the centers that sit inside the cerebellum itself.
What reaches it comes by two routes, and together they are the main input to the cerebellar cortex. Mossy fibers use glutamate; climbing fibers use aspartate. Glutamate and aspartate are neurotransmitters, the substances one neuron uses to speak to another, and in both cases the message delivered to the Purkinje cell is excitatory.
In brief
The Purkinje cell is the neuron that gives the middle layer of the cerebellar cortex its name: it is a large Golgi type I neuron.
Its dendrites reach the molecular layer in multiple branches; its axons are long, cross the granular layer, enter the white matter, become myelinated, and end in the intracerebellar nuclei.
Climbing and mossy fibers are the main input to the cortex: mossy fibers use glutamate and climbing fibers use aspartate to send excitatory signals to the Purkinje cell.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology InformationNeuroanatomy, Cerebellum. StatPearls
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