Granule cell and Purkinje cell number in human cerebella from young and old men: a stereological study

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Abstract

Cerebella from three young men (mean age 20.3 yrs) and three old men (mean age 76.6 yrs) with no neurological disorders were examined postmortem with stereological methods. The Cavalieri principle was used to provide unbiased estimates of volumes, the optical disector to obtain estimates of numerical densities of granule and Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex, and a combination of these two to get total cell numbers. A significant difference was found in the total volume of cerebellum in the two age groups, where the volume in the young males was 138.3 cm³ (CV = SD/mean = 0.04) and in the older group 113.7 cm3 (0.11), p = 0.04. In the anterior lobe, a significant Purkinje cell loss was found in the old men compared to the young (2.23 x 10⁶ (0.34) vs. 3.9 x 10⁶ (0.08) p= 0.03). No cell loss was found in granule cell number, neither in the whole cerebellum nor in any of the subregions. The differences between young and old brains are only rough estimates, since this study is based on a very small material.

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Over : Birgitte Bo Andersen