Betz cells (also known as pyramidal cells of Betz) are giant

pyramidal cells Pyramidal cells, or pyramidal neurons, are a type of multipolar neuron found in areas of the brain including the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, and the amygdala. Pyramidal neurons are the primary excitation units of the mammalian prefrontal co ...

(

neurons A neuron, neurone, or nerve cell is an electrically excitable cell that communicates with other cells via specialized connections called synapses. The neuron is the main component of nervous tissue in all animals except sponges and placozoa. N ...

) located within the fifth layer of the

grey matter Grey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil ( dendrites and unmyelinated axons), glial cells ( astrocytes and oligodendrocytes), synapses, and capillaries. Grey matter is distin ...

in the primary motor cortex. These neurons are the largest in the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all par ...

, sometimes reaching 100

μm The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer ( American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Uni ...

in diameter.Nolte, J. ''The Human Brain'', 5th ed. Mosby: Missouri; 2002, p.527. Betz cells are

upper motor neuron Upper motor neurons (UMNs) is a term introduced by William Gowers in 1886. They are found in the cerebral cortex and brainstem and carry information down to activate interneurons and lower motor neurons, which in turn directly signal muscles t ...

s that send their

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action p ...

s down to the spinal cord via the corticospinal tract, where in humans they synapse directly with anterior horn

cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...

, which in turn synapse directly with their target muscles. Betz cells are not the sole source of direct connections to those neurons because most of the direct corticomotorneuronal cells are medium or small neurons. While Betz cells have one

apical dendrite An apical dendrite is a dendrite that emerges from the apex of a pyramidal cell. Apical dendrites are one of two primary categories of dendrites, and they distinguish the pyramidal cells from spiny stellate cells in the cortices. Pyramidal cells are ...

typical of pyramidal neurons, they have more primary dendritic shafts, which can branch out at almost any point from the

soma Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

(cell body). These perisomatic (around the cell body) and

basal dendrite A basal dendrite is a dendrite that emerges from the base of a pyramidal cell that receives information from nearby neurons and passes it to the soma, or cell body. Due to their direct attachment to the cell body itself, basal dendrites are able to ...

s project into all cortical layers, but most of their horizontal branches/arbors populate layers V and VI, some reaching down into the white matter. According to one study, Betz cells represent about 10% of the total pyramidal cell population in layer Vb of the human primary motor cortex. Betz cells are named after Ukrainian scientist Volodymyr Betz, who described them in his work published in 1874.Betz W. (1874) ''Anatomischer Nachweis zweier Gehirncentra.'' Centralblatt für die medizinischen Wissenschaften. 12:578-580, 595-599.

Notes

External links

*
NIF Search - Betz Cell
via the Neuroscience Information Framework {{Cortex types Cerebral cortex Human cells Motor system