Pyramidal cells - Definition

A pyramidal cell is a type of a neuron. Pyramidal cells constititute the majority of the cells in the cerebral cortex. They are called pyramidal because the shape of their cell body (soma) is pyramid-like.

Pyramidal cells have large dendrite trees, with typically few thousands synapses. They also have relatively long axons, with similar number of synapses. Thus they constitute the main processing power of the cortex.