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. 2009 Sep;1(3):a001644. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a001644

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Neuronal polarization in cultured neurons. Developmental stages in cultured rodent embryonic hippocampal neurons (A, B) and postnatal cerebellar granule neurons (C, D). (A) Hippocampal neurons transform from round cells bearing lamellipodia (Stage 1) into multipolar cells (Stage 2). One neurite enlarges its growth cone and extends rapidly to become the axon (Stage 3). The remaining shorter neurites will develop into dendrites (Stage 4). This is followed by functional maturation and formation of dendritic spines and synapses (Stages 5–6). (B) Phase-contrast images of cultured hippocampal neurons in stages 1, 2, and 3. Scale bar, 20µm. (C) Shortly after plating, cerebellar granule neurons protrude several filopodia (Stage 1) and then start extending one process (Stage 2). From the opposite side of the cell body, another process develops: The granule neuron adopts bipolar morphology bearing two axons (Stage 3). One of the two axons elongates further and starts branching (Stage 4), while the other axon retracts and shorter dendrites form around the cell body (Stage 5). (D) Phase-contrast images of cultured cerebellar granule neurons in stages 1, 3, and 4. Scale bar, 20 µm.