Fibers from the inferior olivary nucleus (IO) in the contralateral medulla enter the cerebellum via the inferior cerebellar peduncle to synapse on Purkinje cells, making multiple synapses as they “climb” up and around a Purkinje’s proximal dendrite. Amazingly, each Purkinje cell gets this special input from exactly one climbing fiber. Climbing fiber inputs may serve as critical “teaching signals” in the cerebellum circuitry.
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