Betz cell
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{{short description|Giant pyramidal neurons of the primary motor cortex}}
Betz cells (also known as
pyramidal cells of Betz) are giant
pyramidal cells (
neurons) located within the fifth layer of the
grey matter in the
primary motor cortex. These neurons are the largest in the
central nervous system, sometimes reaching 100
μm in diameter.BOOK, Purves, Dale, George J. Augustine, David Fitzpatrick, William C. Hall, Anthony-Samuel LaMantia, James O. McNamara, Leonard E. White, amp, Neuroscience, 4th, Sinauer Associates, 432â4, 2008, 978-0-87893-697-7, Nolte, J.
The Human Brain, 5th ed. Mosby: Missouri; 2002, p.527. {{ISBN|0-323-01320-1}}Betz cells are
upper motor neurons that send their
axons down to the
spinal cord via the
corticospinal tract, where in
humans they
synapse directly with
anterior horn cells, which in turn synapse directly with their target
muscles. Betz cells are not the sole source of direct connections to those neurons because most of the direct corticomotorneuronal cells are medium or small neurons.JOURNAL, Strick, Peter L., Dum, Richard P., Rathelot, Jean-Alban, The Cortical Motor Areas and the Emergence of Motor Skills: A Neuroanatomical Perspective, Annual Review of Neuroscience, 8 July 2021, 44, 1, 425â447, 10.1146/annurev-neuro-070918-050216, 33863253, 233278281, While Betz cells have one
apical dendrite typical of
pyramidal neurons, they have more primary dendritic shafts, which can branch out at almost any point from the
soma (cell body).JOURNAL, Braak, H, Braak, E, The pyramidal cells of Betz within the cingulate and precentral gigantopyramidal field in the human brain. A Golgi and pigmentarchitectonic study., Cell and Tissue Research, 172, 1, 103â19, 1976, 991201, 10.1007/bf00226052, 40242681, These perisomatic (around the cell body) and
basal dendrites project into all cortical layers, but most of their horizontal branches/arbors populate layers V and VI, some reaching down into the
white matter.JOURNAL, Meyer, G, Forms and spatial arrangement of neurons in the primary motor cortex of man., The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 262, 3, 402â28, 1987, 3655019, 10.1002/cne.902620306, 45950277, According to one study, Betz cells represent about 10% of the total pyramidal cell population in layer Vb of the human primary motor cortex.JOURNAL, Rivara, CB, Sherwood, CC, Bouras, C, Hof, PR, Stereologic characterization and spatial distribution patterns of Betz cells in the human primary motor cortex., The Anatomical Record Part A: Discoveries in Molecular, Cellular, and Evolutionary Biology, 270, 2, 137â51, 2003, 12524689, 10.1002/ar.a.10015, free, Betz cells are named after Ukrainian scientist
Volodymyr Betz, who described them in his work published in 1874.Betz W. (1874)
Anatomischer Nachweis zweier Gehirncentra. Centralblatt für die medizinischen Wissenschaften. 12:578-580, 595-599.
See also
List of distinct cell types in the adult human bodyNotes
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Cortex types}}
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