ReviewJournal of chemical neuroanatomy2018
Myths and truths about the cellular composition of the human brain: A review of influential concepts.
Review in Journal of chemical neuroanatomy, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of the make-up and properties of in vitro models of the healthy and diseased blood-brain barrier.Nature biomedical engineering · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Caloric restriction decelerates premature aging and cognitive decline in mice with deficient DNA repair.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Layer-specific cellular composition of mouse primary somatosensory and human temporal cortex: a direct 3D confocal counting approach.Frontiers in neuroanatomy · 2026Article
- A unifying theory of brain signaling and its possible role in acquired chronic disease.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Circulating neuron-derived cfDNA for blood-based detection of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative conditions.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Glial Cells in the Early Stages of Neurodegeneration: Pathogenesis and Therapeutic Targets.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Microfabricated Organ-Specific Models of Tumor Microenvironments.Annual review of biomedical engineering · 2025Review
- Eighty-six billion and counting: do we know the number of neurons in the human brain?Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Artificial intelligence without restriction surpassing human intelligence with probability one: Theoretical insight into secrets of the brain with AI twins of the brain.Neurocomputing · 2025Article
- Structural comparisons of human and mouse fungiform taste buds.Chemical senses · 2025Article
- Web-based assessment of dual-task costs at different ages: an analysis across cognitive domains.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiota's Role in Neurological, Psychiatric, and Neurodevelopmental Disorders.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Sex Differences in Astrocyte Activity.Cells · 2024Review
- Current insights and assumptions on α-synuclein in Lewy body disease.Acta neuropathologica · 2024Review
- Structural comparisons of human and mouse fungiform taste buds.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
- Comprehensive transcriptome analysis reveals altered mRNA splicing and post-transcriptional changes in the aged mouse brain.Nucleic acids research · 2024Article
- Regional cortical thickness recovery with extended abstinence after treatment in those with alcohol use disorder.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2024Article
- Hybrid statistical and machine learning modeling of cognitive neuroscience data.Journal of applied statistics · 2024Article
- The influence of age and sex on the absolute cell numbers of the human brain cerebral cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Over the last 50 years, quantitative methodology has made important contributions to our understanding of the cellular composition of the human brain. Not all of the concepts that emerged from quantitative studies have turned out to be true. Here, I examine the history and current status of some of the most influential notions. This includes claims of how many cells compose the human brain, and how different cell types contribute and in what ratios. Additional concepts entail whether we lose significant numbers of neurons with normal aging, whether chronic alcohol abuse contributes to cortical neuron loss, whether there are significant differences in the quantitative composition of cerebral cortex between male and female brains, whether superior intelligence in humans correlates with larger numbers of brain cells, and whether there are secular (generational) changes in neuron number. Do changes in cell number or changes in ratios of cell types accompany certain diseases, and should all counting methods, even the theoretically unbiased ones, be validated and calibrated? I here examine the origin and the current status of major influential concepts, and I review the evidence and arguments that have led to either confirmation or refutation of such concepts. I discuss the circumstances, assumptions and mindsets that perpetuated erroneous views, and the types of technological advances that have, in some cases, challenged longstanding ideas. I will acknowledge the roles of key proponents of influential concepts in the sometimes convoluted path towards recognition of the true cellular composition of the human brain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.