Mouse Purkinje neurons

The red rings at the top and bottom are Purkinje neurons, the cells that keep you balanced and coordinated — normally famous for their sprawling branches, but here recognisable by their plump cell bodies, lined up single-file along the folds of the cerebellum. The two thick blue bands between them are the tightly packed nuclei of granule cells, the smallest and most numerous neurons in the brain. The red glow itself comes from Kv3.3, a protein that acts like a fast shutter on the cell membrane, cutting each electrical pulse short so the neuron can fire again immediately. When the gene for Kv3.3 is mutated, Purkinje cells sicken and die, causing spinocerebellar ataxia type 13 — a rare inherited disease that gradually robs people of balance, walking, speech and eye control.

🟥 Purkinje neurons (Kv3.3) 🟨 Synapses (Bassoon) 🟦 DNA