Neuronal distribution in the putamen in Huntington's disease.

The numbers of neurons were counted in the ventral and dorsal anterior and ventral and dorsal posterior part of the putamen of 11 Huntington's disease and nine control patients. The process of neuronal cell loss in Huntington's disease proved to be unevenly spread throughout the putamen; the ventral anterior part was relatively spared as compared with the other parts of the putamen. A significantly higher number of neurons was found in the ventral part of the putamen in the controls.