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A quantitative study of the human cerebellum with unbiased stereological techniques
Abstract
Estimates of total number of different neuron and glial cell types in the dentate nuclei and the four major regions of the human cerebellum were obtained by new stereological methods. With the optical disector and Cavalieri methods, the total number of neurons and glial cells in the human cerebellum of five elderly men was estimated to be 105,000 x 10(6) (coefficient of variation, CV = 0.13). Of this total, the granule cells comprised 101,000 x 10(6) (CV = 0.13) and the Purkinje cells comprised 30.5 x 10(6) (CV = 0.13) of the neurons. The mean of the total number of neurons in the dentate nucleus was 5.01 x 10(6) (CV = 0.28). The average surface area of the human cerebellum was estimated to be 1160 cm2 (CV = 0.29). The rationale for the different sampling schemes used to quantify the various cell types is described.
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“With more recent estimates of 21–26 billion neurons in the cerebral cortex (Pelvig et al., 2008) and 101 billion neurons in the cerebellum (Andersen et al., 1992), however, the total number of neurons in the human brain would increase to over 120 billion neurons.”
From The human brain in numbers: a linearly scaled-up primate brain (2009) · cites this paper as Andersen et al., 1992
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“the only possible explanation for the ubiquitous quote of 10 times more glial than neuronal cells in the entire human brain would be the presence of nearly one trillion glial cells in the remaining structures alone – an unlikely scenario, since these structures represent <10% of total brain mass.”
From The human brain in numbers: a linearly scaled-up primate brain (2009) · cites this paper as Andersen et al., 1992
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Metadata
- Authors
- Andersen, B. B., Korbo, L., & Pakkenberg, B.
- Affiliations
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Copenhagen Municipal Hospital (DK)
- ORCID
- Pakkenberg, Bente
- Venue
- Journal of Comparative Neurology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1992-12-22
- Volume
- 326
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 549-560
- ISSN
- 0021-9967 (ISSN-L)
- 1096-9861
- OpenAlex
- W2087923797
- Cited by
- 276
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 4.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Comparative Neurology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Applied Mathematics › Point processes and geometric inequalities
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anatomy › Classical Anatomy and Histology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Cell Image Analysis Techniques
- Keywords
- human cerebellum, neuron number estimation, glial cells, dentate nucleus, granule cells, Purkinje cells, optical disector, Cavalieri method, stereology, cell number
- MeSH terms
- Cell Count, Cerebellum, Cytological Techniques, Granulocytes, Humans, Male, Neuroglia, Neurons, Purkinje Cells
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