2 Abstract The neocortex consists of many diverse neuron populations distributed across cortical layers having specialized connectivity and projection patterns. Glutamatergic pyramidal cells, which are cortical projection neurons, reside in all layers except layer 1, while GABAergic nonpyramidal cells are ubiquitous throughout all cortical layers. These broad classes of excitatory and inhibitor...

The new cerebral cortex (neocortex) and the new type of pyramidal neuron are mammalian innovations that have evolved for operating their increasing motor capabilities while essentially using analogous anatomical and neural makeups. The human neocortex starts to develop in 6-week-old embryos with the establishment of a primordial cortical organization, which resembles the primitive cortices of a...

BACKGROUND Decreased cognition is recognized as one of the most severe and consistent behavioral impairments in dementia. Experimental studies have reported that acupuncture may improve cognitive deficits, relieve vascular dementia (VD) symptoms, and increase cerebral perfusion and electrical activity. METHODS Multi-infarction dementia was modeled in rats with 3% microemboli saline suspension...

Pyramidal neurons represent the majority of excitatory neurons in the neocortex. Each pyramidal neuron receives input from thousands of excitatory synapses that are segregated onto dendritic branches. The dendrites themselves are segregated into apical, basal, and proximal integration zones, which have different properties. It is a mystery how pyramidal neurons integrate the input from thousand...

Pyramidal cell dendrites are able to produce a variety of active calcium signals in brain slices. In this issue of Neuron, Grienberger et al. (2014) investigate dendritic function in the hippocampus of live mice.

We have investigated the dendritic and axonal morphology of connected pairs of L4 spiny neurons and L2/3 pyramidal cells in rat barrel cortex. The 'projection' field of the axons of L4 spiny neurons in layers 2/3, 4 and 5 has a width of 400-500 microm thereby defining an anatomical barrel-column. In layer 2/3, the averaged axonal 'projection' field of L4 spiny neurons together with the dendriti...

We evaluated the impact of early embryonic deletion of huntingtin (htt) from pyramidal neurons on cortical development, cortical neuron survival and motor behavior, using a cre-loxP strategy to inactivate the mouse htt gene (Hdh) in emx1-expressing cell lineages. Western blot confirmed substantial htt reduction in cerebral cortex of these Emx-httKO mice, with residual cortical htt in all likeli...

How does a newborn neuron initiate and elaborate an axon? Using cutting-edge approaches, Yi et al. (2010) provide striking evidence that TGF-beta signaling via the Par polarity complex is required for axon formation by neocortical pyramidal neurons.

background and objective: as one of the widely used drugs, aspirin (acetyl-salicylic acid, asa) plays an important role in stroke treatment and prevention. in a previous study, we demonstrated asa injection at 30 min after ischemia onset is neuroprotective. to determine whether the neurons protected by asa had a normal ultrastructure, hippocampal ca1 pyramidal neurons were examined by transmiss...

Introduction: Donepezil (DON), an Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor (AChEI), is widely used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The current study aimed at evaluating the effect of donepezil hydrochloride on pyramidal neuron response in CA1 region of a rat model of AD. Methods: In the current experimental study, adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: Nucleus Basal...