One of three inhibitory GABA interneurons in the cerebellar cortex that together total somewhere in the region of 200 million, each one synapsing on the soma and proximal dendrites of 20 or more Purkinje cells that they laterally inhibit via short axons through the release of the neurotransmitter GABA. In turn, they are excited by granule cells. They are so named because of their tendency to spread out horizontally and straddle such cells in the cerebellum.
See Basal ganglia (functions), Cerebellar cortex, Cerebellum (anatomy), Gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), Golgi type II cells, Granular layer, Granule cells, Interneurons, Molecular layer, Parallel fibers, Purkinje cells, Stellate cells