Table 3.
Findings of previous studies of the number of neurons in the human LGN
Study | n | Ntot | NM | NP |
---|---|---|---|---|
Balado and Franke, 1937 [10] | 1 | 568,845 | 86,181 | 482,664 |
Chacko, 1948 [21] | 1 | 1,210,000 | 111,000 | 1,099,000 |
Sullivan et al., 1958 [74] | 1 | 1,018,190 | ||
Kupfer et al., 1967 [52] | 1 | 1,043,000 | 62,500 | 980,500 |
Armstrong, 1979 [9] | 2 | 2,172,000 | ||
Khan et al., 1993 [49] | 2 | 1,680,000 | ||
Selemon and Begović, 2007 [64] | 30 | 3,476,698 | 565,835 | 2,910,863 |
Current study | 29 | 1,990,000 | 244,000 | 1,740,000 |
n is number of subjects, while Ntot, NM, and NP the estimated mean neuron numbers of the whole LGN, the magnocellular region, and parvocellular region, respectively. The study by Khan et al. was based upon brains from two late gestational fetuses (gestational age of 34–35 weeks). For the last two studies the values represent all subjects across all diagnostic groups as neither study found significant group differences. Only the last two studies were based upon unbiased stereological techniques