Equal Numbers of Neuronal and Nonneuronal Cells Make the Human Brain an Isometrically Scaled-Up Primate Brain
Equal Numbers of Neuronal and Nonneuronal Cells Make the Human Brain an Isometrically Scaled-Up Primate Brain
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DOI：
10.1002/cne.21974
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发表时间：
2009-04-10
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Herculano-Houzel, Suzana
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Azevedo, Frederico A. C.;Carvalho, Ludmila R. B.;Herculano-Houzel, Suzana
人类的大脑通常被认为是哺乳动物大脑中认知能力最强的，而且比我们身体大小的哺乳动物的预期要大得多。尽管神经元的数量通常被认为是计算能力的决定因素，尽管人们普遍认为人类大脑包含1000亿个神经元和十倍以上的神经胶质细胞，但人类大脑中神经元和神经胶质细胞的绝对数量仍然未知。在这里，我们使用各向同性分馏器来确定这些数字，并将它们与人类大小的灵长类动物的期望值进行比较。我们发现成年男性大脑平均含有86.1+/-81亿个Neun阳性细胞(“神经元”)和84.6+/-98亿个Neun-阴性(“非神经元”)细胞。由于只有19%的神经元位于大脑皮层，与其他灵长类动物相比，人类更大的皮质大小(占总脑质量的82%)并不反映皮质神经元的相对数量增加。人类大脑结构中神经胶质细胞和神经元的比例与其他灵长类动物相似，它们的细胞数量与人类比例的灵长类动物的预期数量相匹配。这些发现挑战了常见的观点，即人类在大脑组成上从其他灵长类动物中脱颖而出，并表明，就神经细胞和非神经细胞的数量而言，人类的大脑是一个等距放大的灵长类大脑。J.Comp.神经。513：532-541,2009。(C)2009年Wiley-Liss，Inc.
The human brain is often considered to be the most cognitively capable among mammalian brains and to be much larger than expected for a mammal of our body size. Although the number of neurons is generally assumed to be a determinant of computational power, and despite the widespread quotes that the human brain contains 100 billion neurons and ten times more glial cells, the absolute number of neurons and glial cells in the human brain remains unknown. Here we determine these numbers by using the isotropic fractionator and compare them with the expected values for a human-sized primate. We find that the adult male human brain contains on average 86.1 +/- 8.1 billion NeuN-positive cells ("neurons") and 84.6 +/- 9.8 billion NeuN-negative ("nonneuronal") cells. With only 19% of all neurons located in the cerebral cortex, greater cortical size (representing 82% of total brain mass) in humans compared with other primates does not reflect an increased relative number of cortical neurons. The ratios between glial cells and neurons in the human brain structures are similar to those found in other primates, and their numbers of cells match those expected for a primate of human proportions. These findings challenge the common view that humans stand out from other primates in their brain composition and indicate that, with regard to numbers of neuronal and nonneuronal cells, the human brain is an isometrically scaled-up primate brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 513:532-541, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.