Lugaro cells target basket and stellate cells in the cerebellar cortex

Lugaro cells are fusiform neurons located just beneath the Purkinje cell layer. Their axon projects profusely in the molecular layer and emits some collaterals in the granular layer. We have analysed the molecular layer postsynaptic targets of a Golgi-impregnated Lugaro cell, using the electronmicroscopic gold-toning procedure and post-embedding anti-GABA immunocytochemistry. All the gold-labeled neuritic and somatic profiles were GABA-positive, thus confirming that the Lugaro cell is an inhibitory interneuron. The axonal varicosities of this cell form multiple symmetrical synaptic junctions with basket and stellate cell somata and proximal dendrites, and, perhaps, with the molecular layer dendrites of Golgi interneurons. Lugaro cells thus seem to exert a feed-back inhibitory control on Purkinje cells.