Quantitative Cytoarchitectural Studies of the Cerebral Cortex of Schizophrenics
- 1 January 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Medical Association (AMA) in Archives of General Psychiatry
- Vol. 43 (1), 31-35
- https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1986.01800010033004
Abstract
• Quantitative morphometric determinations of neuronal and glial density, neuron-glia ratios, and neuronal size were performed in the prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and primary motor cortex of ten controls and ten schizophrenics diagnosed by Feighner criteria under blind conditions to assess whether neuronal degeneration had occurred. Stepwise multiple regression and multiple classification analyses were used to evaluate the effect of potential confounding variables such as age, postmortem interval, fixation, hypoxia, and neuroleptic exposure on the measures studied. The neuronal density was significantly lower in layer VI of the prefrontal, layer V of the cingulate, and layer III of motor cortex. There was also a trend toward fewer neurons in most layers of both prefrontal and motor cortex, although by discriminant analysis this generalized pattern was significant only for the prefrontal area. The glial density also tended to be lower throughout most layers of all three cortical regions. There were no differences in the neuron-glia ratios or neuronal size between the two groups. The data do not support the presence of neuronal degeneration in schizophrenic cortex as it is conventionally described by neuropathologists, but do suggest the possibility that cytoarchitectural variations in cortical structure might exist in this group of schizophrenics.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of haloperidol on synaptic patterns in the rat striatumBrain Research, 1985
- Haloperidol-Induced Plasticity of Axon Terminals in Rat Substantia NigraScience, 1983
- Neuropathological Studies of Schizophrenia: A Selective ReviewSchizophrenia Bulletin, 1983
- Normal Ventricles in Young SchizophrenicsThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1982
- Some morphometric aspects of the brain in senile dementia of the alzheimer typeAnnals of Neurology, 1981
- THE BASIC UNIFORMITY IN STRUCTURE OF THE NEOCORTEXBrain, 1980
- CEREBRAL VENTRICULAR SIZE AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIAThe Lancet, 1976
- An Anatomy of Schizophrenia?Archives of General Psychiatry, 1973
- Diagnostic Criteria for Use in Psychiatric ResearchArchives of General Psychiatry, 1972
- A Histological Study of a Series of Cases of Acute Dementia PræcoxJournal of Mental Science, 1932