Pyramidal Cells of the Frontal Lobe: All the More Spinous to Think With
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The basal dendritic arbors of pyramidal cells in prefrontal areas 10, 11, and 12 of the macaque monkey were revealed by intracellular injection in fixed, flat-mounted, cortical slices. The size, number of branches, and spine density of the basal dendrites were quantified and compared with those of pyramidal cells in the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes. These analyses revealed that cells in the frontal lobe were significantly more spinous than those in the other lobes, having as many as 16 times more spines than cells in the primary visual area (V1), four times more those in area 7a, and 45% more than those in area TE. As each dendritic spine receives at least one excitatory input, the large number of spines reported for layer III cells in prefrontal cortex suggests that they are capable of integrating a greater number of excitatory inputs than layer III pyramidal cells so far studied in the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes. The ability to integrate a large number of excitatory inputs may be important for the sustained tonic activity characteristic of neurons in prefrontal cortex and their role in memory and cognition.
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There is evidence for significant neuronal differences between rodents and humans, including distinct membrane and synaptic properties and dendritic complexity of human neurons that might contribute to human-specific signal processing.
“Indeed there is evidence for significant neuronal differences between rodents and human; for example, distinct membrane8,9 and synaptic10–14 properties and dendritic complexity15–17 of human neurons might contribute to human specific signal processing.”
From Transcriptomic and morphophysiological evidence for a specialized human cortical GABAergic cell type (2018) · cites this paper as [15]
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- Authors
- Elston, G. N.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Elston, Guy N.
- Venue
- The Journal of Neuroscience
- Publisher
- Society for Neuroscience
- Published
- 2000-09-15
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 18
- Pages
- RC95-RC95
- ISSN
- 0270-6474 (ISSN-L)
- 1529-2401
- PMC
- PMC6772841
- OpenAlex
- W1824320254
- Cited by
- 289
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 5.16
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- pyramidal neurons, dendritic spines, prefrontal cortex, basal dendrites, dendritic morphology, excitatory synaptic input, macaque, memory and cognition
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Dendrites, Female, Fluorescent Dyes, Frontal Lobe, Immunohistochemistry, Isoquinolines, Macaca, Microinjections, Occipital Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Prefrontal Cortex, Pyramidal Cells
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