[Morphological characteristics of Lugaro cells of the cerebellar cortex]

Two types of Lugaro cells--fusiform and triangular--were found at different levels of granular layer in the sections of cat cerebellar cortex, stained with silver nitrate using Golgi-Kopsch method. Their processes are oriented horizontally, vertically or obliquely to the folium axis, while their axons never leave the limits of cerebellar cortex, therefore these cells should be considered as interneurons. The processes of Lugaro cells have very large spatial expansion, due to which these cells form numerous axosomatic and axodendritic connections with all the neurons and fibers of the cerebellar cortex. Structural and topographic characteristics of Lugaro cells, as well as the peculiarities of their contacts with the other cells of cerebellar cortex, in combination with the data on their neurotransmitter content, indicate that these cells play the role of inhibitory interneurons.