title: Neocortical glial cell numbers in Alzheimer's disease. A stereological study.
abstract: Most studies agree that specific regions of the hippocampus and specific subcortical regions show neuronal loss in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of the study was to use design-based stereological methods to obtain an estimate of the total glial cell population in 14 AD cases and 20 controls to determine whether brains from AD patients have a different number of neocortical glial cells than controls. The mean total number of neocortical glial cells was 25.9 x 10(9) for the AD group and 29.1 x 10(9) for the control group, 2p = 0.18. The mean total number of neocortical neurons was 18.9 x 10(9) for the AD group and 21.2 x 10(9) for the control group, 2p = 0.059. Estimates of the sum of all glial cells and neurons in the neocortex were in the order of 50 billion cells with a glia to neuron ratio of 1.37 in both groups.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D002452:Cell Count; D016923:Cell Death; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019579:Neocortex / Q000473:pathology*; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000473:pathology*