Senitz D, Reichenbach A, Smith T G
Department of Psychiatry, University of Würzburg, F.R.G.
J Hirnforsch. 1995;36(4):531-7.
Astrocytes from area 11 of the human neocortex were Golgi-impregnated. The material was taken from four human subjects, (1) a neonate without obvious CNS damage, (2) a middle-aged adult serving as control, (3) an aged individual without apparent mental disturbances, and (4) an aged patient with dementia. Camera-lucida drawings of 7 to 26 astrocytic cells from each donor were digitized into a personal computer, and analyzed for their fractal dimension D which is an objective and quantitative measure of the complexity of the cell's borders. Both radial and multipolar astrocytes from neonatal cortex showed a comparatively low fractal dimension (D approximately 1.39), that is, low surface complexity. Adult ("control") astrocytes were characterized by a high fractal dimension (D = 1.57), corresponding to their large surface complexity. Astrocytes from the aged subject showed a somewhat smaller fractal dimension (D = 1.51) and, thus, surface complexity; this difference was however not highly significant. In contrast, astrocytes from the subject with dementia showed a significant reduction in surface complexity (D = 1.47). Parallel changes were observed in the brain volume compartment occupied by the process of individual astrocytes. These data suggest that formation and maintenance of astrocytic processes and/or side branches correlate positively with the degree of information processing within their neuronal environment.
对取自人类新皮质11区的星形胶质细胞进行高尔基染色。材料取自四名受试者，（1）一名无明显中枢神经系统损伤的新生儿，（2）一名作为对照的中年成年人，（3）一名无明显精神障碍的老年人，以及（4）一名患有痴呆症的老年患者。用显微镜绘图仪绘制每个供体的7至26个星形胶质细胞，并将其数字化输入个人计算机，分析其分形维数D，这是一种客观定量测量细胞边界复杂性的指标。新生儿皮质的放射状和多极星形胶质细胞均显示出相对较低的分形维数（D约为1.39），即表面复杂性较低。成年（“对照”）星形胶质细胞的特征是分形维数较高（D = 1.57），这与其较大的表面复杂性相对应。老年受试者的星形胶质细胞分形维数略小（D = 1.51），因此表面复杂性也略低；然而，这种差异并不十分显著。相比之下，患有痴呆症的受试者的星形胶质细胞表面复杂性显著降低（D = 1.47）。在单个星形胶质细胞突起所占据的脑容积区域也观察到了类似的变化。这些数据表明，星形胶质细胞突起和/或侧支的形成与维持与其神经元环境中的信息处理程度呈正相关。
