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Development of human brain

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Human Evolution

Abstract

The human has the most complex brain of the primates group. Their development is prolonged beyond birth and it is not completed structurally nor neurochemically until age of 20 years. Decades later, degenerative phenomena begin to be evident, that little by little will drive us to death. At the end of the life, 113 grams aproximate of cerebral mass are lost. The endowment of furrows and convolutions are fixed before birth, while the cerebral surface ends up having values next to the adult at 2 years. However the cerebral weight reaches its maximum at the 20 year-old decade. A first phase of neuronal death appears during the prenatal life, which is continued by another postnatal phase, and it ends with the definitive number of neurons. However, along life, the number of neurons decreases little by little at the time of the neuroglial cells increase. Much about brain knowledge at the moment is difficult to apply to the cranial endocasts, although approaches from the MNR are hopeful.

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  1. Departamento de Ciencias Morfologicas I Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Complutense, Ciudad Universitaria, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    A. Peña-Melian

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Peña-Melian, A. Development of human brain. Hum. Evol. 15, 99–112 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02436238

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