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- Volume 12 (1993)
- Number 2 - Proceedings of the sixth European congr...
- Macroscopic morphometry of the human brain in neurodegeneration
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Macroscopic morphometry of the human brain in neurodegeneration
Abstract
Human brains were analysed, by means of stereology, at the macroscopic level, for the following reasons: (1) to compare Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) and to determine the presence of AD changes in PD, and vice-versa, (2) to detect signs of atrophy in the brains of HIV-1 infected patients, and (3) to provide baseline quantitative data for further morphometric analyses using MR-imaging. The volumes of 20 cortical and 17 subcortical brain structures were estimated using Cavalieri’s principle. Furthermore, the surface area and the mean cortical thickness of all cortical structures were measured.
In Alzheimer’s disease, the volume of the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the basal and medial aspects of the frontal lobe, the insula, the cingulate gyrus as well as the frontal and parieto-occipital white matter were significantly reduced. No changes were seen in subcortical brain structures. In Parkinson’s disease, no significant reductions in volume were found. No significant changes were found in the cerebral cortex of HIV-1 infected patients as compared to age- and sex-matched controls. Only a significant reduction in volume was found in the internal capsule. The lack of significant changes in HIV-1 infected brains might be attributed to the selection of the sample which was composed of brains with the neuropathological diagnosis of HIV-1 encephalitis but showing no remarkable gross-anatomical changes.