Stereological analysis of the dentate nucleus in developing human brain
Abstract
Stereological analysis of the dentate nucleus was performed at various stages of fetal development and one brain of a newborn. The cells of the first and the second stage of maturation were observable during the 13th week. In later stages (14-20 weeks) the cells of the second stage were noticed. Parallelly with the cells of the second stage of maturation in the 20th week, the cells of the third stage were found. In the 24th week only the cells of the fourth stage were present, remaining conspicuous up to birth. The diameters of the nerve cell nuclei were measured in some stages of development and their volumes were calculated. In certain stages of development numerical density of the nerve cell nuclei was determined. The value of the numerical density was decreasing in the course of development the most probably due to growth and the shrinkage of the tissue, impossibility to distinguish neuroblasts from the spongioblasts in the earlier stages of development and due to the increasing volume of the dentate nucleus. The decrease in numerical density was statistically significant up to the 24th week. Between the 24th and 31st week the decrease of the numerical density was statistically insignificant, while between the 31st week and a six-day-old newborn it was again statistically significant.