It's lonely at the top: winning climbing fibers ascend dendrites solo.
In mammals, climbing fiber axons compete for sole innervation at each Purkinje cell. At the same time, synapses disappear from Purkinje somata and appear in great numbers on the dendrites. In this issue of Neuron, Hashimoto et al. show that, by the time climbing fibers ascend the dendrites, the winner and losers are already decided.
Draft
Ryan W
RW
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Lichtman
Jeff W
JW
D000818:Animals; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D003712:Dendrites / Q000502:physiology*; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology*; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D013569:Synapses