The cell bodies are packed into a thick layer at the bottom of the cerebellar cortex. A granule cell emits only four to five dendrites, each of which ends in an enlargement called a dendritic claw.[1] These enlargements are sites of excitatory input from mossy fibers and inhibitory input from Golgi cells.
The thin, unmyelinated axons of granule cells rise vertically to the upper (molecular) layer of the cortex, where they split in two, with each branch traveling horizontally to form a parallel fiber; the splitting of the vertical branch into two horizontal branches gives rise to a distinctive "T" shape. A parallel fiber runs for an average of 3 mm in each direction from the split, for a total length of about 6 mm (about 1/10 of the total width of the cortical layer).[1] As they run along, the parallel fibers pass through the dendritic trees of Purkinje cells, contacting one of every 3-5 that they pass, making a total of 80-100 synaptic connections with Purkinje cell dendritic spines.[1] Granule cells use glutamate as their neurotransmitter, and therefore exert excitatory effects on their targets.