To establish if the differences observed so far between NCI and non-diabetic and diabetic AD could be a consequence of an altered distribution of cell types (for example expansion or activation of glial cells or loss of neuronal cells) in the parietal cortex, we measured cellular mRNA levels of MAP2 (neurons), GFAP (astrocytes) and AIF1 (microglia) to evaluate cell populations in this region (Table 1). The gene discussed is AIF1; the disease is Alzheimer disease.