Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 13, No. 2, 115-122,
February 2003
© 2003 Oxford University Press
The Changing Number of Cells in the Human Fetal Forebrain and its Subdivisions: A Stereological Analysis
1 Research Laboratory for Stereology and Neuroscience, Bartholin Institute, Kommunehospitalet and Bispebjerg University Hospital, Copenhagen, , 2 Department of Pathology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, , 3 NEUROTEC, Geriatric Department, Karolinska Institute, Sweden and , 4 Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Herlev University Hospital, Denmark
Address correspondence to Bente Pakkenberg, Research Laboratory for Stereology and Neuroscience, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. Email: forsklab{at}bbh.hosp.dk.
The total number of cells – including both neurons and glial cells – was estimated in the neocortical part of the human fetal telencephalon in 22 normal brains within four major developmental zones: the cortical plate/marginal zone, the subplate, the intermediate zone and the ventricular/subventricular zone. The fetal ages ranged from 13 to 41 weeks of gestation. The cellular growth in the human fetal forebrain appears to be two-phased: one rapid, exponential phase from 13 to 20 weeks of gestation and a second and slower phase, which increases linearly, from approximately 22 weeks of gestation to term. From 13 to 20 weeks of gestation the total number of cells increases by a factor of 4.3 from 3 x 109 cells to 13 x 109 cells at 20 weeks of gestation. From mid-gestation to term, the total cell number increases by a factor of 2.9 to 38 x 109 cells in the newborn infant. Studying cellular growth in the normal human fetal brain is important since it may serve as a useful parameter for the assessment of cortical growth in non-invasive and histological studies, and thus improve the analysis of fetal brain disturbances.
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