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. 2014 Jan 6;7:51. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2013.00051

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Copyright © 2014 Marín-Padilla.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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Composite figure of camera lucida drawings from rapid Golgi preparations illustrating (A) the newborn infant motor cortex overall neuronal composition, stratification, and ascending functional maturation (large ascending arrow) from lower and older to upper and younger pyramidal cell strata and (B) an original Cajal drawing illustrating the cerebral cortex descending cascade of functional inputs (arrows) from upper (younger) to lower (older) pyramidal cell strata. (A) This drawing illustrates (at similar magnification) the various pyramidal cells functional strata from the deeper older and larger neurons to the superficial smaller and younger ones with several intermediate ones, various type of inhibitory (baskets and bi-tufted, chandeliers) neurons, Martinotti cells with ascending axons and first lamina with Cajal– Retzius cells and long horizontal axons and the terminal dendritic bouquets if all underlying pyramidal neurons. The drawing also illustrates the correspondences between the current descending (layers I, II, III, IV, V, and VI) laminar nomenclature (left side) with the proposed ascending one (P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P6) supported by developmental data (right side). A thin remnant of the original pyramidal cell plate (PCP) is also illustrated under the first lamina. (B) Cajal’s original drawing illustrating his conception of the cerebral cortex descending functional activity. Also illustrated are first lamina Cajal–Retzius cell (F), the numerous horizontal axonic fibers and the terminal dendritic bouquets of the underlying pyramidal neurons. The first lamina also receives (ascending small arrows) the terminal of afferent fibers (G) from the white matter and the axons of Martinotti (E) cells. The cortex descending functional activity results from the combination of the interconnecting and descending functional inputs (small arrows) from the upper (A) through the intermediate (B,C) to the deeper (D) pyramidal cell strata. The pyramidal neurons descending axons also reach the white (H) matter. The deeper pyramidal neurons that receive cascading functional inputs from all upper pyramidal neurons are the source of the projective motor pathways to subcortical centers and eventually to the animal musculature. I have incorporated to two large arrows: an ascending (functional maturation) one to my drawing and a descending (function) one to Cajal’s.