Question

As you move your finger to touch your nose, specialized neurons called Purkinje cells in the cerebellum are receiving weak motor function signals from hundreds of thousands of other neurons. What aspect of Purkinje cells would you expect to be more extensively developed than other neurons?

A) Less myelination
B) More axon terminals
C) More dendrites
D) Smaller soma
E) Increased axon length

Answer 1

Purkinje cells in the cerebellum would be expected to have a more extensively developed network of dendrites, facilitating the reception of synaptic contacts from many other neurons, which fits with option C: More dendrites.

Step-by-step explanation:

When you move your finger to touch your nose and integrate the sensory information with motor coordination, Purkinje cells in the cerebellum are highly involved. Due to their role in receiving signals from a multitude of other neurons for processing, you would expect Purkinje cells to have a more extensively developed network of dendrites. These specialized neurons have a distinctive and elaborate dendritic arbor which allows them to receive synaptic contacts from as many as 200,000 other neurons, which is significantly higher than most other types of neurons.

Therefore, the aspect of Purkinje cells that we would expect to be more extensively developed than other neurons is More dendrites (option C).