The Neuroglial Cells of the Dentate Nucleus

Abstract

When histological sections of the cerebellar nuclei are scrutinized, the overwhelming impression is that a large number of myelinated axons and neuroglial cells are present. The neurons of the cerebellar nuclei are, in fact, embedded in both. Counts of neuroglial cells show 4.4×10⁴ in each lateral nucleus in the rat and 7×l0⁵ in the monkey, and neuroglial densities of 2.8×10⁸ per cm³ and 8.8×10⁷ per cm³ in these animals, respectively. Thus, the neuroglial density is much higher in the rat than in monkey. However, when the ratios of neuroglia to neurons in the dentate of each species are compared, the rat has a lower ratio (8.15:1) than the monkey (12.4:1). This indicates that with ascent in phylogeny, acquisition of neocortex, and increase in brain weight, as well as a general increase in neuronal numbers, there is a commensurately larger increase in numbers of neuroglial cells (see Chap. I for details).