AUTHOR=Yuste Rafael TITLE=The discovery of dendritic spines by Cajal JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroanatomy VOLUME=9 YEAR=2015 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroanatomy/articles/10.3389/fnana.2015.00018 DOI=10.3389/fnana.2015.00018 ISSN=1662-5129 ABSTRACT=

Dendritic spines were considered an artifact of the Golgi method until a brash Spanish histologist, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, bet his scientific career arguing that they were indeed real, correctly deducing their key role in mediating synaptic connectivity. This article reviews the historical context of the discovery of spines and the reasons behind Cajal's obsession with them, all the way till his deathbed.