Description

Purkinje cells are the main source of cerebellar output, and as such, they must be tightly controlled to correctly regulate motor functions. Basket cells regulate the output of Purkinje cells through the Pinceau formation: fine, brush-like basket cell axons in contact with Purkinje cell bodies (shown above in c; the Purkinje cell bodies are indicated by the faint dotted lines). Cajal described them in 1888, when it was yet unproven that neurons were separate cells rather than an interconnected reticulum, and correctly noted that the basket cells and Purkinje cells were distinct entities. He also correctly noted that the Pinceau formation was an exception to his law of dynamic polarization, where information flows from the axons of one neuron to the dendrites of a neighboring neuron: the axons of both the basket cells and the Purkinje cells interact in the Pinceau formation. He did not, however, foresee the biological importance of the Pinceau formation, which we now know to be critical for normal motor function. 3D model created by Jeremy Swan based on an original illustration by Santiago Ramon y Cajal