A pyramidal cell is a multipolar neuron named for its approximately triangular soma, with an apical dendrite extending toward the cortical surface and basal dendrites spreading from the cell base. Pyramidal cells are prominent excitatory projection neurons in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus; their detailed branching and targets vary.
Their separated compartments make pyramidal cells useful for testing how local dendrite events affect whole-cell output. Simultaneous recordings from the soma and a dendrite or axon showed active back-propagation of somatically recorded action potentials, connecting anatomy to measurable signal propagation.[ref]
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