title: No global neocortical nerve cell loss in brains from patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer's type.
abstract: Precise estimates of total neuron numbers in neocortices of 11 women, mean age 82.6 years (range 79-88) with severe senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type (SDAT) were compared with similar estimates in 10 cognitively normal women of comparable mean age (84.1 years; range 74-92). The total mean nerve cell number in the SDAT group was 16.9 x 10(9) with a coefficient of variation (CV = SD/mean) = 0.14, whereas mean total neuron number in the control group was 18.1 x 10(9), CV = 0.18. In a material of this size the reduction of 6% in neocortical cell number in the SDATs is neither statistically nor biologically significant. Nevertheless, all patients with SDAT were severely demented, having a mean score of 5.6 on a 1-7-scale of dementia. This contrasts with the nondemented individuals who had lived an independent life at home until shortly before death. The SDAT patients showed a rather consistent reduction in cortical volume by 14%, an atrophy that was solely due to a reduced cortical thickness. In addition, all had multiple neocortical plaques (Bielschowsky silver stain).
authors.affiliation: Neurological Research Laboratory, Bartholin Instituttet, Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Regeur
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pakkenberg
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pakkenberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology