Abstract
The discovery of the Golgi cell is bound to the foundation of the Neuron Doctrine. Recently, the excitable mechanisms of this inhibitory interneuron have been investigated with modern experimental and computational techniques raising renewed interest for the implications it might have for cerebellar circuit functions. Golgi cells are pacemakers with preferential response frequency and phase-reset in the theta-frequency band and can therefore impose specific temporal dynamics to granule cell responses. Moreover, through their connectivity, Golgi cells determine the spatio-temporal organization of cerebellar activity. Finally, Golgi cells, by controlling granule cell depolarization and NMDA channel unblock, regulate the induction of long-term synaptic plasticity at the mossy fiber – granule cell synapse. Thus, the Golgi cells can exert an extensive control on spatio-temporal signal organization and information storage in the granular layer playing a critical role for cerebellar computation.
Highlights
The discovery of the Golgi cell is bound to the foundation of the Neuron Doctrine
COMPUTATIONAL IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS The observations presented above indicate that Golgi cells are involved in three main control processes of granular layer activity that could have profound implications for the cerebellar function
Golgi cells lay at the core of a complex process integrating synaptic inhibition and long-term synaptic plasticity (Figure 5)
Summary
After the discovery at the end of the 19th century (Golgi, 1883), the Golgi cell (Figure 1) was precisely described by Cajal (1987, 1995) and functionally identified as an inhibitory interneuron 50 years later by Eccles et al (1967). It was immediately clear that Golgi cells had to play a critical role, since they are the main inhibitory interneuron of the granular layer and control activity of as many as 100 billions granule cells. Golgi cells show pacemaking, resonance, phase-reset and rebound-excitation in the theta-frequency band. These properties are likely to impact on their activity in vivo, which shows irregular spontaneous beating modulated by sensory inputs and burst responses to punctuate stimulation followed by a silent pause. The concept is emerging that Golgi cells are of critical importance for regulating granular layer network activity bearing important consequences for cerebellar computation as a whole
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