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Review
. 2014 Jul 15:8:508.
doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00508. eCollection 2014.

Stereological estimation of total cell numbers in the human cerebral and cerebellar cortex

Solveig Walløe  1 , Bente Pakkenberg  1 , Katrine Fabricius  1
Affiliations
Review

Stereological estimation of total cell numbers in the human cerebral and cerebellar cortex

Solveig Walløe et al. Front Hum Neurosci. .

Abstract

Our knowledge of the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function is still limited. Human brains and individual cortical areas vary considerably in size and shape. Studies of brain cell numbers have historically been based on biased methods, which did not always result in correct estimates and were often very time-consuming. Within the last 20-30 years, it has become possible to rely on more advanced and unbiased methods. These methods have provided us with information about fetal brain development, differences in cell numbers between men and women, the effect of age on selected brain cell populations, and disease-related changes associated with a loss of function. In that this article concerns normal brain rather than brain disorders, it focuses on normal brain development in humans and age related changes in terms of cell numbers. For comparative purposes a few examples of neocortical neuron number in other mammals are also presented.

Keywords: cell numbers; development; human brain; neocortex; stereology.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Increase in total cell number in the cortical plate (CP)/marginal zone (MZ) in 15 normal human fetuses between 18 and 42 weeks of gestation. Modified from Samuelsen et al. (2003).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Coronal section of a 24-week (left), 25-week (middle), and 40-week-old human fetus at the level of the basal ganglia. CP, cortical plate; SP, subplate; IZ, intermediate zone; VZ/SVZ, ventricular zone/subventricular zone. Scale bar = 1 cm.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Total neuron number (non-equidistant logarithmic scale) as a function of age (linear scale: 18–105 years) in human males and females. In a larger material it would be expected that the curve flattens as we grow very old.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mean total neuron and glial cell number in the human neocortex and cerebellum.
Figure 5
Figure 5
A prominent aspect of the human brain compared with brains of other species is its large size. Coronal sections through a hemisphere of an adult human, an adult harbor porpoise, and an adult harp seal brain (Part of the picture is with courtesy of Walløe et al., 2010). Scale bar = 1 cm.
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