A Golgi study on the red nucleus in man.

The different cell types comprising the human red nucleus (RN) from eight patients without neuronal diseases were investigated using the Golgi-Braitenberg method for long-stored autopsy material. No giant cells were found due to regression of the magnicellular part of the human RN. We found larger (40-50 microns) and smaller (30 microns perikaryon size) medium-sized multipolar neurons with long dendrites, mushroom spines and typical distal dendritic tufts. The larger medium-sized RN neurons had some brush-shaped dendritic end portions which could not be observed in the Golgi studies on various other mammals described in the literature. We additionally found small neurons with a perikaryon size of 15 microns. These cells were thought to be intrinsic neurons similar to those in animal investigations. The neuronal types found in the normal human RN corresponded to those in the parvicellular part of the mammalian RN. Dendritic end brushes, however, are typical only for the human RN.