Human cerebellum

[Olympusman]

Human Cerebellum silver stained

20X



40X





40X



60X



100X oil

[Beatsy]

That's an interesting series. Tough to tell exactly what I'm looking at, but I think I see a violin lesson

[iconoclastica]

The cerebellum is a bit too primiive part of the brain to store much of a violin lesson. On the other hand, it would explain a lot if the results of those lessons hide there

[pbraub]

Thank you for these nice pictures.

I am not sure, but the first three pictures seem to show the outer (molecular) layer of the cerebellum which has many argyrophile fibers and fewer cells.

The last 3 pictures show Purkinje Cells sitting at the border of the nuclear (inner) layer and the outer molecular layer. The extensions of the cells (dendrites) carry the incoming signals to the cell and signals leave through the axon which routes through the nuclear layer (upper left in the 40x) but is not in the layer you have in this section.

@iconoclastica it might well be the case that a substantial amount of a violin lesson hides in the cerebellum. It is mainly for movement coordination. There is a process called facilitation - its basically a "where one step leads to another" situation in neurophysiology. And if i recall correctly the Purkinje cells (and the whole cerebellum) play a pivotal role in facilitation for movement.

I experience facilitation basically every day (and I do think we all do). It is most noticable when you have a certain sequence of movement which is easy to do from a certain starting point but really-really hard if you start off somewhere in the middle.
Facilitation is when the next step is easier when you have performed a certain step before (the neurons responsible for the next step get "cocked" when the ones before fire and so on).

Alas,
please excuse my rambling

I think microscopy gets even more beautiful when you imagine what meaning these images carry.

Kind regards
Peter