Functional Morphology of Neurons During Normal and Pathological Ageing

The wet weight of the human brain is maintained at a mean of 1400 grams (male) and 1260 grams (female) from maturity until about 55 years of age (Haug, 1985). Loss in the frontal cortical and subcortical grey matter exceeds that in the parietal cortex and occipital lobe. Changes in the mass of white matter occur later in life (70–90 years) and may be due to loss of neurons (Creasey and Rapoport, 1985).