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The human cerebellum is located at the base of the brain, with the large mass of the cerebrum above it, and the portion of the brainstem called the pons in front of it. It is separated from the overlying cerebrum by a layer of tough dura mater called the cerebellar tentorium; all of its connections with other parts of the brain travel through the pons.
The comparative simplicity and regularity of the cerebellar anatomy led to an early hope that it might imply a similar simplicity of computational function, as expressed in one of the first books on cerebellar electrophysiology, The Cerebellum as a Neuronal Machine by John C. Eccles, Masao Ito, and János Szentágothai. [42]
Stellate cells are neurons in the central nervous system, named for their star-like shape formed by dendritic processes radiating from the cell body. These cells play significant roles in various brain functions, including inhibition in the cerebellum and excitation in the cortex, and are involved in synaptic plasticity and neurovascular coupling.
Cerebellar granule cells form the thick granular layer of the cerebellar cortex and are among the smallest neurons in the brain. (The term granule cell is used for several unrelated types of small neurons in various parts of the brain.) Cerebellar granule cells are also the most numerous neurons in the brain: in humans, estimates of their total ...
He wrote Cerebri Anatome (Latin: Anatomy of the brain) [c] in 1664, followed by Cerebral Pathology in 1667. In these he described the structure of the cerebellum, the ventricles, the cerebral hemispheres, the brainstem, and the cranial nerves, studied its blood supply; and proposed functions associated with different areas of the brain. [233]
There are four paired deep cerebellar nuclei embedded in the white matter centre of the cerebellum. The nuclei are the fastigial , globose , emboliform , and dentate nuclei. In lower mammals the emboliform nucleus appears to be continuous with the globose nucleus, and these are known together as the interposed nucleus .
The only excitatory neurons present in the cerebellar cortex are granule cells. [10] Plasticity of the synapse between a parallel fiber and a Purkinje cell is believed to be important for motor learning. [11] The function of cerebellar circuits is entirely dependent on processes carried out by the granular layer.
Neurons in the cerebellar nuclei generate spontaneous action potentials despite ongoing inhibition from Purkinje cells. The cerebellar nuclei receive afferent projections from the inferior olive, lateral reticular nucleus, upper cervical and lumbar spinal segments, and the Pontine nuclei. Together, the deep cerebellar nuclei form a functional ...