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Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access published online on March 6, 2007
Alcohol and Alcoholism, doi:10.1093/alcalc/agm007
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The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol.

No changes in neocortical cell volumes or glial cell numbers in chronic alcoholic subjects compared to control subjects

Katrine Fabricius*,, Henning Pakkenberg and Bente Pakkenberg

Research Laboratory for Stereology and Neuroscience, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Research Laboratory for Stereology and Neuroscience, Bispebjerg University Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. Tel: +45 35316429; Fax: +45 35316434; E-mail: forsklab{at}bbh.hosp.dk

Received 8 December 2006; first review notified 9 January 2007; in revised form 17 January 2007; accepted 23 January 2007


  Abstract

Aims: To study if the total glial cell population in the neocortex is intact in subjects with a history of severe alcohol abuse compared to control subjects. Further, to investigate whether the cortical nerve cell nuclei and nerve cell perikarya volumes are the same in chronic alcoholic subjects as in the control subjects. Methods: Using the stereological method, the optical rotator in a vertical design, the perikaryon cell volume and nuclei cell volume in the neocortex and its four subdivisions were studied in 11 alcoholics and 10 control subjects. Using the Cavalieri estimator of volumes and the optical disector for cell counting, we estimated the total number of glial cells in the neocortex and compared previous stereological results for chronic alcoholic subjects. Results: We found the mean neuronal cell volumes to be unaffected by severe alcohol abuse (p = 0.84) and a normal total number of glial cells (p = 0.39) in chronic alcoholic subjects compared to control subjects. Conclusion: Only glial cells and dendritic/synaptic changes have so far been reported in stereological studies of the brains of alcoholic subjects. We thus have increasing evidence that it may be possible for some individuals to return to their previous cognitive abilities after cessation of alcohol which may give hope and encouragement for chronic alcoholic subjects to stop the abuse.


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