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Quantitative data on the inferior olivary nucleus in man, cat and vampire bat
Author(s) -
Escobar Alfonso,
Sampedro Elia D.,
Dow Robert S.
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.901320303
Subject(s) - inferior olivary nucleus , biology , superior olivary complex , desmodus rotundus , cerebellum , nucleus , anatomy , vampire , neuroscience , afferent , inferior colliculus , virology , rabies , computer science , programming language
A quantitative study of the inferior olivary nucleus in single specimens of man, cat and vampire bat has been made. The number of cells in the human is about 908,680 which is about one‐fifteenth the number of Purkinje cells thought by others to be present in the human cerebellum. The estimated figure in the cat is about 140,520 while in the vampire it is 26,644. The relation of these figures to the total number of Purkinje cells in the last two species is still to be determined. The neuron density is highest in the vampire where the volume of the cell bodies represents one‐eighth the total volume of the nucleus while in the cat the comparable ratio is one‐sixteenth, and in the human one‐twenty‐fifth. This reflects the richer neuropils of afferent connections and dendrites in the more highly developed species. Unsolved problems and discrepancies concerning the number of olivary cells and Purkinje cells in the light of present concepts of the olivary origin of climbing fibers are discussed and areas of future study are suggested.