Premium
Quantitative changes in the neuronal and oligodendroglial cell populations during myelination of the murine neocortex
Author(s) -
Lyck Lise,
Finsen Bente
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.5.a880-c
Subject(s) - neocortex , biology , neuroscience , neuron , oligodendrocyte , neuroglia , population , cell , microbiology and biotechnology , central nervous system , myelin , medicine , genetics , environmental health
During normal development the neocortical neuronal and glial cell populations expand and mature to form the neuronal network that is responsible for higher cerebral function. Unbiased estimations of the total cell number, the number of neurons, glial cells, and oligodendroglia was performed in the neocortex in transgenic mice expressing an oligodendrocyte specific marker. To cover the first weeks of life with the young adult as the final stage animals were analysed at the day of birth and at postnatal days 8, 16, 24, and 55. The neocortical cell population underwent a 340% expansion during the first two weeks of life. Dramatic changes were observed during the second week of life with a 205% increase of the number of neurons and a 450% increase of the glial cell number. The number of neuron and glia peaked at postnatal day 16, and appeared to decline during early adult life. In contrast, the oligodendroglia continued to expand in the early adult life along with the functional maturation of the neuronal networks. The adult murine neocortex had a total of 14.3 x 10 6 cells, of which 7.38 x 10 6 cells were neurons, 6.95 x 10 6 glia cells, and 0.95 x 10 6 cells mature oligodendroglia, corresponding to 52% neurons, 48% glia, and 7% oligodendroglia. For the first time, the dramatic quantitative changes in the cellular composition of the neocortex induced during specific developmental periods in the early postnatal life of the mouse, have been mapped to illustrate the important events leading to the full maturation of the functional neocortex. Grants: The Augustinus Foundation, The Beckett‐Foundation, The Danish MRC, The Velux Foundation of 1981.