The Golgi neuron, together with the Purkinje cells , is the largest nerve cell of the cerebellar cortex.
The Golgi neurons are inhibitory with GABA as the transmitter substance.
The cell bodies of the Golgi neuron, almost as large as those of Purkinje cells, are scattered throughout the grain cell layer.
The dendrite tree of the Golgi neuron is extensive and consists partly of a larger apical part that extends through the entire molecular layer, and partly of a smaller basolateral part that is distributed in the outer parts of the grain cell layer.
Within the molecular layer:
a) the Golgi neuron is excited by the parallel filaments of the grain cells, and
b)the Golgi neuron is inhibited by the transverse axons of the Lugaro cells .
The basolateral dendrites of the Golgi neuron in the grain cell layer are excited by moss filaments.
The axons of the Golgi neuron are located in the grain cell layer and are particularly widely branched. A single Golgi neuron synaptically contacts thousands of grain cells. These inhibitory synaptic complexes are attached to the claw-like terminations of grain cell dendrites, which also simultaneously receive an excitatory impulse inflow from adjacent moss filament end ends.
The claw-like terminations of the grain cell dendrite, together with connected inhibitory and excitatory synaptic complexes and an enclosing astrocyte sheath, form a so-called glomerulus (a cerebellar ball).
The Golgi neuron is considered to be the most complex cell type of the brain with the ability to act both as a "switch" and modulator of Purkinje cell activity.