RT Journal Article
T1 Human Purkinje cells outperform mouse Purkinje cells in dendritic complexity and computational capacity
A1 Masoli, Stefano
A1 Sanchez Ponce, Diana
A1 Vrieler, Nora
A1 Abu Haya, Karin
A1 Lerner, Vitaly
A1 Shahar, Tal
A1 Nedelescu, Hermina
A1 Rizza, Martina Francesca
A1 Benavides Piccione, Ruth
A1 DeFelipe, Javier
A1 Yarom, Yosef
A1 Muñoz Céspedes, Alberto
A1 D’Angelo, Egidio
AB Purkinje cells in the cerebellum are among the largest neurons in the brain and have been extensively investigated in rodents. However, their morphological and physiological properties remain poorly understood in humans. In this study, we utilized high-resolution morphological reconstructions and unique electrophysiological recordings of human Purkinje cells ex vivo to generate computational models and estimate computational capacity. An inter-species comparison showed that human Purkinje cell had similar fractal structures but were larger than those of mouse Purkinje cells. Consequently, given a similar spine density (2/μm), human Purkinje cell hosted approximately 7.5 times more dendritic spines than those of mice. Moreover, human Purkinje cells had a higher dendritic complexity than mouse Purkinje cells and usually emitted 2–3 main dendritic trunks instead of one. Intrinsic electro-responsiveness was similar between the two species, but model simulations revealed that the dendrites could process ~6.5 times (n = 51 vs. n = 8) more input patterns in human Purkinje cells than in mouse Purkinje cells. Thus, while human Purkinje cells maintained spike discharge properties similar to those of rodents during evolution, they developed more complex dendrites, enhancing computational capacity.
PB Springer Nature
YR 2024
FD 2024-01-02
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/119699
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/119699
LA eng
NO Masoli, S., Sanchez-Ponce, D., Vrieler, N., Abu-Haya, K., Lerner, V., Shahar, T., Nedelescu, H., Rizza, M. F., Benavides-Piccione, R., DeFelipe, J., Yarom, Y., Munoz, A., & D’Angelo, E. (2024). Human Purkinje cells outperform mouse Purkinje cells in dendritic complexity and computational capacity. Communications Biology, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/S42003-023-05689-Y
NO We thank the NIH NeuroBioBank for providing post-mortem fixed human cerebellar cortex tissue samples; and we thank the Smith Family Foundation for their generous support towards providing and maintaining electrophysiological recording equipment at the Hebrew University. This research has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Program for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement No. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3) and Specific Grant Agreement No. 785907 (Human Brain Project SGA2). We acknowledge the use of Fenix Infrastructure resources, which are partially funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program through the ICEI project under the grant agreement No. 800858. Work supported by EBRAINS-Italy (IR00011) Project IR11– EBRAINS-Italy - M4C2 Line 3.1 of the PNRR, Action 3.1.1 – Funded by European Commission – NextGenerationEU (CUP B51E22000150006). We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for English language editing.
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 16 jun 2025