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. 2014 Dec 15;8:152. doi: 10.3389/fnana.2014.00152

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Number of SNpc and VTA DA neurons in humans, monkeys, rats and mice. In adult C57BL/6 mice, approximately 8,000–12,000 TH-positive neurons are located in each of the two neuron groups bilaterally (German et al., 1996; Nelson et al., 1996; Jackson-Lewis and Przedborski, 2007). Studies in rats revealed about 21,000–25,000 TH-positive neurons in the SNpc and about 20,000–40,000 TH-positive neurons in the VTA bilaterally (German and Manaye, 1993; Nair-Roberts et al., 2008). In monkeys and humans, much higher numbers of DA neurons are found in the midbrain. Stereology studies counted approximately 120,000–270,000 TH-positive neurons bilaterally in the SNpc and about 110,000 TH-positive neurons bilaterally in the VTA in rhesus and squirrel monkeys (Emborg et al., 1998; McCormack et al., 2004; Collier et al., 2007; Kanaan et al., 2007). In humans, about 200,000–420,000 TH-positive neurons bilaterally were reported for the SNpc in adults and about 60,000–65,000 TH-positive neurons for the VTA (Hirsch et al., 1988; McRitchie et al., 1997; Damier et al., 1999a; Chu et al., 2002).