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Cellular Structure and Histological Architecture of the Brain

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The Human Connectome
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Abstract

The brain includes an extraordinary number of nerve cells at the order of 100 billions (1011). These cells can be classified in more than 1000 different types, but they are mainly divided into 2 broad categories: the nerve cells (neurons) and the glial cells (glia) (Kuehnel 2003; Erlandsen and Magney 1985). Glial cells outnumber neurons 10–50:1, and their name comes from the Greek word γλοια (meaning glue). In terms of information theory, neurons are the “processors,” and glia is the supporting environment which provides the supporting skeleton, routes for feeding and removing residual substances, etc. The axons of neurons correspond to cables.

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Fountoulakis, K.N. (2022). Cellular Structure and Histological Architecture of the Brain. In: The Human Connectome. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10351-3_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10351-3_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-10350-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-10351-3

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