Evidence for a decrease in basilar dendrites of pyramidal cells in schizophrenic medial prefrontal cortex

• Published in: Schizophrenia research Vol. 58; no. 1; pp. 75 - 81
• Main Authors: Broadbelt, Kevin, Byne, William, Jones, Liesl B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.11.2002; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Autopsy; Biological and medical sciences; Dendrites; Dendrites - pathology; Female; Golgi; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Morphology; Neural Pathways - physiopathology; Postmortem; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - pathology; Prefrontal Cortex - physiopathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Pyramidal Cells - pathology; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - pathology; Schizophrenia - physiopathology; Silver Staining - methods; Schizophrenia; Golgi; Dendrites; Prefrontal cortex; Morphology; Postmortem; Human; Basilar membrane; Sex; Central nervous system; Dendrite; Psychosis; Sociodemographic factor; Nervous network; Pyramidal neuron; Age; Comparative study; Brain (vertebrata)
• ISSN: 0920-9964; 1573-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/S0920-9964(02)00201-3

A variety of lines of converging evidence implicates the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in schizophrenia. Previous neuroanatomical studies have shown schizophrenia-associated changes in neuron density, soma size and spine number. We recently demonstrated a schizophrenia-associated decrease in microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) immunostaining in laminae III and V of medial prefrontal area 32 and interpreted that finding as suggestive of a loss of dendritic material. We now present data from medial prefrontal area 32 of 11 schizophrenics and 11 comparison subjects. In Golgi-stained material, we describe a significant decrease in the number of both primary (29%) and secondary (46%) basilar dendrites on pyramidal neurons in layer V. Similarly, in layer III there was also a decrease in both primary (17%) and secondary (15%) basilar dendrites. These findings suggest a decrease in synaptic surface area which could lead to aberrant information processing.