Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 13, 2026
11:48
Analysis of Dendritic Spine Morphology in Cultured CNS Neurons
Published on: July 13, 2011
The discovery of dendritic spines by Cajal
1Department of Biological Sciences and Neuroscience, Neurotechnology Center, Columbia University New York, NY, USA.
Frontiers in Neuroanatomy
|May 9, 2015
Abstract:
Dendritic spines were considered an artifact of the Golgi method until a brash Spanish histologist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, bet his scientific career arguing that they were indeed real, correctly deducing their key role in mediating synaptic connectivity. This article reviews the historical context of the discovery of spines and the reasons behind Cajal's obsession with them, all the way till his deathbed.
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