Journal article
Description of microcolumnar ensembles in association cortex and their disruption in Alzheimer and Lewy body dementias
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 97(10), pp 5039-5043
09 May 2000
PMID: 10805766
Abstract
The cortex of the brain is organized into clear horizontal layers, laminae, which subserve much of the connectional anatomy of the brain. We hypothesize that there is also a vertical anatomical organization that might subserve local interactions of neuronal functional units, in accord with longstanding electrophysiological observations. We develop and apply a general quantitative method, inspired by analogous methods in condensed matter physics, to examine the anatomical organization of the cortex in human brain. We find, in addition to obvious laminae, anatomical evidence for tightly packed microcolumnar ensembles containing approximately 11 neurons, with a periodicity of about 80 μm. We examine the structural integrity of this new architectural feature in two common dementing illnesses, Alzheimer disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. In Alzheimer disease, there is a dramatic, nearly complete loss of microcolumnar ensemble organization. The relative degree of loss of microcolumnar ensembles is directly proportional to the number of neurofibrillary tangles, but not related to the amount of amyloid-β deposition. In dementia with Lewy bodies, a similar disruption of microcolumnar ensemble architecture occurs despite minimal neuronal loss. These observations show that quantitative analysis of complex cortical architecture can be applied to analyze the anatomical basis of brain disorders.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Description of microcolumnar ensembles in association cortex and their disruption in Alzheimer and Lewy body dementias
- Creators
- S. V Buldyrev - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215L Cruz - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215T Gomez-Isla - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215E Gomez-Tortosa - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215S Havlin - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215R Le - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215H. E Stanley - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215B Urbanc - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215B. T Hyman - Center for Polymer Studies and Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, v 97(10), pp 5039-5043
- Series
- From the Cover
- Publisher
- The National Academy of Sciences
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Physics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000086998500009
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-0034624965
- Other Identifier
- 991014877714404721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Neurosciences