Publications by authors named "Mark S Saviano"
The present study examines cortical neuronal morphology in the African lion (Panthera leo leo), African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus), and cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus jubatus). Tissue samples were removed from prefrontal, primary motor, and primary visual cortices and investigated with a Golgi stain and computer-assisted morphometry to provide somatodendritic measures of 652 neurons. Although neurons in the African lion were insufficiently impregnated for accurate quantitative dendritic measurements, descriptions of neuronal morphologies were still possible.
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- Gigantopyramidal neurons, also known as Betz cells, are large neurons with extensive dendrites found in the primary motor cortex of mammals, and their morphology has been studied across various species.
- This study utilized qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the structure of these neurons in 19 different mammalian species, highlighting significant differences in dendritic shapes and sizes between species, especially in feliforms like lions and tigers.
- The results showed that gigantopyramidal neurons have larger dendritic measures compared to other pyramidal neurons and that these differences can help differentiate taxonomic groups based on their somatodendritic morphology.