An axosomatic and axodendritic multipolar neuron in the lizard cerebral cortex

The morphology and synaptic organisation of a type of multipolar neuron of the lizard cerebral cortex were studied by Golgi impregnation, intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase, electron microscopy, and immunocytochemistry. It is a GABA-immunoreactive interneuron and most likely parvalbumin-immunoreactive. Its conspicuous axonal arbor is characterised by an initial segment arising from the soma or from a juxtasomatic dendritic segment. The initial axon segment ramifies and gives rise to thick myelinated segments that terminate in short unmyelinated branches studded with thick boutons 'en passant' that (1) make axosomatic synapses on bipyramidal neuronal somata and (2) synapse on initial apical dendritic segments of bipyramidal neurons forming climbing-like cartridges. The dendrites extend throughout the thickness of the cortex, receiving synaptic input from a variety of sources of which the most prominent is that of zinc-positive boutons coming from granule cells of the medial cortex. According to its synaptology, this interneuron may play a role in regulating the activity of bipyramidal neurons by both feed-forward and feed-back inhibition mechanisms. From a comparative standpoint, it may be related to the sparsely spiny or nonspiny multipolar neurons of the stratum oriens of the mammalian hippocampus.