Summary
A study has been made of the neurons of the motor and somatic sensory cortices in the primate. The existence of pyramidal and stellate cells in the motor cortex is confirmed and the stellate cells have been subdivided on the basis of features seen with the electron microscope. Large stellate cells receive numerous synapses and have abundant cytoplasm full of endoplasmic reticulum and mitochondria and occur mainly in layers IV and V; small stellate cells receive few synapses and have sparse pale cytoplasm and occur mainly in layer II but also in the deeper layers. A comparative quantitative study of motor and somatic sensory cortex has shown that both contain approximately 70% pyramidal and 30% stellate cells.
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Sloper, J.J. An electron microscopic study of the neurons of the primate motor and somatic sensory cortices. J Neurocytol 2, 351–359 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01103793
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01103793