The DOI matches its Crossref record; 22 of the 22 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Aging and the human neocortex
Abstract
Neurostereology has been applied to quantitative anatomical study of the human brain. Such studies have included the total neocortical number of neurons and glial cells, the estimated size distribution of neocortical neurons, the total myelinated fiber length in the brain white matter, the total number of synapses in the neocortex, and the effect of normal aging on these structural elements. The difference in total number of neurons was found to be less than 10% over the age range from 20 to 90 years, while the glial cell number in six elderly individuals, mean age 89.2 years, showed an average number of 36 billion glial cells, which was not statistically significantly different from the 39 billion glial cells in the neocortex of six young individuals with a mean age of 26.2 years. The total myelinated fiber length varied from 150,000 to 180,000 km in young individuals and showed a large reduction as a function of age. The total number of synapses in the human neocortex is approximately 0.15 x 10(15) (0.15 quadrillion). Although the effect of aging is seen in all estimated structural elements, the effect of sex is actually higher. The functional relevance of these differences in neuron numbers in both age and gender is not known.
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“published estimates of the number of neocortical neurons varies by as much as a factor of 2 (between 14.7 to 32.0 billion neurons) (Pakkenberg and Gundersen, 1997; Pakkenberg et al., 2003).”
From The Cellular and Molecular Landscapes of the Developing Human Central Nervous System (2016) · cites this paper as Pakkenberg et al., 2003
In the citing paper
“The published estimates for the number of synapses an individual neocortical neuron receives also vary between approximately 7,200 (Pakkenberg et al., 2003; Tang et al., 2001) and 29,642 synapses (DeFelipe et al., 2002).”
From The Cellular and Molecular Landscapes of the Developing Human Central Nervous System (2016) · cites this paper as Pakkenberg et al., 2003
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Self-citationThe unbiased estimation of number and sizes of arbitrary particles using the disector
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The efficiency of systematic sampling in stereology—reconsidered
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Differences in the pattern of hippocampal neuronal loss in normal ageing and Alzheimer's disease
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“…aging and disease showed normal individuals to lose neurons in two regions of the hippocampus, subiculum and the hilus as a function of age, while patients with AD lost more neurons in these two regions than normal aging individuals (West and Gundersen, 1990; West et al., 1994; Simic et al., 1997).”
BackgroundUnbiased stereological estimation of the number of neurons in the human hippocampus
West, M. J., & Gundersen, H. J. G. (1990) · Journal of Comparative Neurology · doi:10.1002/cne.902960102 · Cited by 1,153 · cited 2×
“…aging and disease showed normal individuals to lose neurons in two regions of the hippocampus, subiculum and the hilus as a function of age, while patients with AD lost more neurons in these two regions than normal aging individuals (West and Gundersen, 1990; West et al., 1994; Simic et al., 1997).”
BackgroundPakkenberg, B. (1990) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1990.01810230039007 · Cited by 565
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The total number of neurons in the human neocortex unbiasedly estimated using optical disectors
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Quantitation of cerebral atrophy in preclinical and end-stage Alzheimer’s disease
de la Monte, S. M. (1989) · Annals of Neurology · doi:10.1002/ana.410250506 · Cited by 229
A quantitative study of cerebral atrophy in old age and senile dementia
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Essen, D. C. V., Uǧurbil, K., Auerbach, E. J., Barch, D. M., Behrens, T. E. J., Bucholz, R. D., Chang, A., Chen, L., Corbetta, M., Curtiss, S. W., et al. (2012) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.02.018 · Cited by 2,638
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Structural Brain Changes in Aging: Courses, Causes and Cognitive Consequences
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Metadata
- Authors
- Pakkenberg, B.
- Affiliations
- Bispebjerg Hospital (DK)
- Corresponding author
- Pakkenberg, B
- ORCID
- Pakkenberg, B
- Venue
- Experimental Gerontology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2003-01
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 1-2
- Pages
- 95-99
- ISSN
- 0531-5565 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2003837387
- Cited by
- 485
- References
- 22
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 18
- FWCI
- 28.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Experimental Gerontology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Anatomy › Classical Anatomy and Histology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Aging and Gerontology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- brain aging, human neocortex, neuron number, glial cells, white matter, sex differences, brain structure
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Aging, Brain, Cell Count, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Fibers, Myelinated, Neuroglia, Neurons, Synapses, Neocortex, Cell Size
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