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Interlaminar astroglial processes in the cerebral cortex of great apes

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Abstract

The present study was designed to document the architecture of neocortical astroglia in great apes, following glial fibrillary acidic protein immunohistochemistry. These anthropoid species were missing from previous phylogenetic descriptions of astroglia with interlaminar processes, a characteristic event of the cerebral cortex within the Primate Order. Pongo pygmaeus (orangutan), Gorilla gorilla (gorilla) and Pan troglodytes (chimpanzee) brain samples showed the typical “palisade” of interlaminar processes. Yet, those from Pan troglodytes were less uniform, showing extended cortical segments with astrocytic (“syncytial-type”) appearance, intermingled with segments expressing the interlaminar “palisade”. Present observations contribute to fill in missing data on the phylogenetic emergence of the cerebral cortex astroglial interlaminar processes. Considering the extreme consistency of the expression of astroglial interlaminar “palisades” among anthropoid species, this apparent variability among Pan individuals could be due to various possibilities, which are considered in this report.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the secretarial and technical assistance of Mrs. Beatriz Stuto and Ms. Cristina Juárez. This work was supported in part by FONCYT (PICT 01–03465), Jerome Lejeune Foundation (Paris, France), Fundación Conectar, Emprendimientos San Jorge S.A., Chevron-San Jorge S.A., CONICET (PIP #740), Corpomédica Argentina S.A., Fundación Bunge y Born, Fundación René Baron, the Leakey Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, and NSF BCS 0121286. Great ape specimens used in this study were on loan to the Comparative Neurobiology of Aging Resource supported by NIH AG14308.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidad de Neurobiología Aplicada (CEMIC-CONICET), Av Galván 4102, 1431 , Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Jorge A. Colombo

  2. Department of Anthropology and School of Biomedical Sciences, Kent State University, 226 Lowry Hall, Kent, OH 44242, USA

    Chet C. Sherwood

  3. Kastor Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories and Fishberg Research Center for Neurobiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L Levy Place, New York, NY 10029, USA

    Patrick R. Hof

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  1. Jorge A. Colombo
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  2. Chet C. Sherwood
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  3. Patrick R. Hof
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Correspondence to Jorge A. Colombo.

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A. Colombo, J., C. Sherwood, C. & R. Hof, P. Interlaminar astroglial processes in the cerebral cortex of great apes. Anat Embryol 208, 215–218 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-004-0391-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-004-0391-4

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