Peters A, Kara D A, Harriman K M
J Comp Neurol. 1985 Aug 15;238(3):263-74. doi: 10.1002/cne.902380303.
The neuronal population of area 17 of rat visual cortex has been examined by using tissue from brains fixed by perfusion. The tissue was osmicated and embedded in plastic so that the same neurons could be examined by both light and electron microscopy. In these preparations area 17 was 1.49 mm thick and by stereological procedures it was calculated that there are about 120,000 neurons beneath 1 mm2 of cortical surface. If one assumes area 17 in each hemisphere of the rat to occupy between 7.1 and 9.4 mm2 of cortical surface, then in each hemisphere the area contains between 850,000 and 1,128,000 neurons. Of these neurons 85% are pyramidal cells and 15% are nonpyramidal cells. About one-third of the nonpyramidal cells occur in layers I and VIb, both of which contain only this kind of neuron. The remaining two-thirds of the nonpyramidal cells are in layers II-VIa. Within these layers it has been possible to differentiate bipolar cells from other types of nonpyramidal cells and in each of these two nonpyramidal cell groups to recognize both small and large neurons. The greatest concentration of nonpyramidal cells occurs in layer II/III. To confirm the validity of the stereologically derived data direct counts were made of the medium and large pyramidal cells in layer V.
利用经灌注固定的大鼠脑的组织，对大鼠视皮层17区的神经元群体进行了研究。该组织经锇酸处理后包埋于塑料中，以便能通过光学显微镜和电子显微镜对相同的神经元进行观察。在这些标本中，17区厚1.49毫米，通过体视学方法计算得出，在1平方毫米的皮层表面下约有120,000个神经元。如果假设大鼠每个半球的17区占据皮层表面7.1至9.4平方毫米的面积，那么每个半球该区域包含850,000至1,128,000个神经元。这些神经元中，85%是锥体细胞，15%是非锥体细胞。约三分之一的非锥体细胞出现在I层和VIb层，这两层仅含有这种类型的神经元。其余三分之二的非锥体细胞位于II - VIa层。在这些层中，已能够将双极细胞与其他类型的非锥体细胞区分开来，并且在这两个非锥体细胞组中都能识别出小神经元和大神经元。非锥体细胞最密集的区域出现在II/III层。为了证实体视学得出的数据的有效性，对V层中的中型和大型锥体细胞进行了直接计数。
