Fig. 1
From: VENturing into machine learning for the morphological analysis of von Economo neurons
Comparison of the morphology of a typical von Economo neuron (VEN) and a typical pyramidal neuron (image modified from28, Fig. S3). The following key morphological features of VENs are visible: (1) an elongated, stick-shaped cell body, (2) lack of clear demarcation between cell body and main apical and basal processes (apical and basal stems), (3) axon originating from distal end of the basal stem, (4) basal stem terminally branching into multiple significantly thinner branches in a brush-like pattern (called a basal tuft/skirt). Unlike the VEN, a typical pyramidal neuron has a pyramidal cell body, clear demarcation between the cell body and the main dendrites, and an axon arising from the basal side of the cell body, rather than distally from the basal processes.
