Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Neuroscience
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Neuroscience

Advanced Search

Submit a Manuscript
  • HOME
  • CONTENT
    • Early Release
    • Featured
    • Current Issue
    • Issue Archive
    • Collections
    • Podcast
  • ALERTS
  • FOR AUTHORS
    • Information for Authors
    • Fees
    • Journal Clubs
    • eLetters
    • Submit
  • EDITORIAL BOARD
  • ABOUT
    • Overview
    • Advertise
    • For the Media
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Feedback
  • SUBSCRIBE
PreviousNext
Articles

Profound Loss of Layer II Entorhinal Cortex Neurons Occurs in Very Mild Alzheimer’s Disease

Teresa Gómez-Isla, Joseph L. Price, Daniel W. McKeel Jr., John C. Morris, John H. Growdon and Bradley T. Hyman
Journal of Neuroscience 15 July 1996, 16 (14) 4491-4500; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-14-04491.1996
Teresa Gómez-Isla
1Neurology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Joseph L. Price
2Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Pathology and Neurology, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Daniel W. McKeel Jr.
2Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Pathology and Neurology, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
John C. Morris
2Departments of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Pathology and Neurology, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63110
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
John H. Growdon
1Neurology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bradley T. Hyman
1Neurology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, and
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF
Loading

This article has a correction. Please see:

  • Erratum for Gomez-Isla et al., Profound Loss of Layer II Entorhinal Cortex Neurons Occurs in Very Mild Alzheimer’s Disease - July 15, 1997

Abstract

The entorhinal cortex (EC) plays a crucial role as a gateway connecting the neocortex and the hippocampal formation. Layer II of the EC gives rise to the perforant pathway, the major source of the excitatory input to the hippocampus, and layer IV receives a major hippocampal efferent projection. The EC is affected severely in Alzheimer disease (AD), likely contributing to memory impairment. We applied stereological principles of neuron counting to determine whether neuronal loss occurs in the EC in the very early stages of AD. We studied 20 individuals who at death had a Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score of 0 (cognitively normal), 0.5 (very mild), 1 (mild), or 3 (severe cognitive impairment). Lamina-specific neuronal counts were carried out on sections representing the entire EC. In the cognitively normal (CDR = 0) individuals, there were ∼650,000 neurons in layer II, 1 million neurons in layer IV, and 7 million neurons in the entire EC. The number of neurons remained constant between 60 and 90 years of age. The group with the mildest clinically detectable dementia (CDR = 0.5), all of whom had sufficient neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and senile plaques for the neuropathological diagnosis of AD, had 32% fewer EC neurons than controls. Decreases in individual lamina were even more dramatic, with the number of neurons in layer II decreasing by 60% and in layer IV by 40% compared with controls. In the severe dementia cases (CDR = 3), the number of neurons in layer II decreased by ∼90%, and the number of neurons in layer IV decreased by ∼70% compared with controls. Neuronal number in AD was inversely proportional to NFT formation and neuritic plaques, but was not related significantly to diffuse plaques or to total plaques. These results support the conclusion that a marked decrement of layer II neurons distinguishes even very mild AD from nondemented aging.

  • entorhinal cortex
  • stereology
  • neuronal loss
  • perforant pathway
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • aging
View Full Text
Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of Neuroscience: 16 (14)
Journal of Neuroscience
Vol. 16, Issue 14
15 Jul 1996
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Email

Thank you for sharing this Journal of Neuroscience article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Profound Loss of Layer II Entorhinal Cortex Neurons Occurs in Very Mild Alzheimer’s Disease
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of Neuroscience
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of Neuroscience.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Print
View Full Page PDF
Citation Tools
Profound Loss of Layer II Entorhinal Cortex Neurons Occurs in Very Mild Alzheimer’s Disease
Teresa Gómez-Isla, Joseph L. Price, Daniel W. McKeel Jr., John C. Morris, John H. Growdon, Bradley T. Hyman
Journal of Neuroscience 15 July 1996, 16 (14) 4491-4500; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-14-04491.1996

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Respond to this article
Request Permissions
Share
Profound Loss of Layer II Entorhinal Cortex Neurons Occurs in Very Mild Alzheimer’s Disease
Teresa Gómez-Isla, Joseph L. Price, Daniel W. McKeel Jr., John C. Morris, John H. Growdon, Bradley T. Hyman
Journal of Neuroscience 15 July 1996, 16 (14) 4491-4500; DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.16-14-04491.1996
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • eLetters
  • PDF

Keywords

  • entorhinal cortex
  • stereology
  • neuronal loss
  • perforant pathway
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • aging

Responses to this article

Respond to this article

Jump to comment:

No eLetters have been published for this article.

Related Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • Choice Behavior Guided by Learned, But Not Innate, Taste Aversion Recruits the Orbitofrontal Cortex
  • Maturation of Spontaneous Firing Properties after Hearing Onset in Rat Auditory Nerve Fibers: Spontaneous Rates, Refractoriness, and Interfiber Correlations
  • Insulin Treatment Prevents Neuroinflammation and Neuronal Injury with Restored Neurobehavioral Function in Models of HIV/AIDS Neurodegeneration
Show more Articles
  • Home
  • Alerts
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Facebook
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on Twitter
  • Follow Society for Neuroscience on LinkedIn
  • Visit Society for Neuroscience on Youtube
  • Follow our RSS feeds

Content

  • Early Release
  • Current Issue
  • Issue Archive
  • Collections

Information

  • For Authors
  • For Advertisers
  • For the Media
  • For Subscribers

About

  • About the Journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
(JNeurosci logo)
(SfN logo)

Copyright © 2022 by the Society for Neuroscience.
JNeurosci Online ISSN: 1529-2401

The ideas and opinions expressed in JNeurosci do not necessarily reflect those of SfN or the JNeurosci Editorial Board. Publication of an advertisement or other product mention in JNeurosci should not be construed as an endorsement of the manufacturer’s claims. SfN does not assume any responsibility for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from or related to any use of any material contained in JNeurosci.