Organization of stellate cell axon collaterals (A-B) Examples of SCs reconstructed following patch-clamp recording from a sagittal (A) and horizontal (B) brain slice. Axons are in blue and dendrites in red. Traces to the right indicate membrane potential responses (upper) to current steps (lower) used to establish the electrophysiological profile of the recorded neurons. (C-D). Overlay of all SC axons reconstructed from sagittal (n = 8)(C) and horizontal (n = 5)(D) slices with soma position registered relative to the L1/2 border (left). Angle plots for all SC axons (see wedge plots in Figure 5 of Surmeli et al. 2015)(right) indicate the dominance of axons that extend within layer 2. (E) Total length within each layer of dendrites (left) and axon collaterals (excluding the primary axon) (right). Colour code distinguishes data from sagittal and horizontal slices. The distribution of axons and dendrites depended on layer (p = 1.72 x 10-11, F = 12.8, df = 6), but did not differ between axons and dendrites (compartment: p = 0.33, F = 0.94, df = 1; layer x compartment: p = 0.35, F = 1.13, df = 6) and was independent of the slice orientation (plane: p = 0.71, F = 0.14, df = 1; plane x layer: p = 0.62, F = 0.74, df = 6; plane x layer x compartment: p = 0.29, F = 1.24, df = 6; 2-way repeated measures ANOVA). (F) Total axon length in superficial (L1-3) layers did not predict length in deep (L4-6) layers (linear model: p = 0.30, adjusted r2 = 0.014, F = 1.17, df = 1, 11). (G) Maximum extent of L1-3 axons was greater than dendrites along the dorsoventral axis (sagittal sections; paired t-test: p = 0.03, t = −2.7, df = 8), but similar along the mediolateral axis (horizontal sections; paired t-test: p = 0.59, t = 0.57, df = 6).