Somal size of prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia: differential effects across neuronal subpopulations

• Published in: Biological psychiatry (1969) Vol. 54; no. 2; pp. 111 - 120
• Main Authors: Pierri, Joseph N, Volk, Christine L.E, Auh, Sungyoung, Sampson, Allan, Lewis, David A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 15.07.2003; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Autopsy; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cell Count; Female; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nervous system; neurofilament protein; Neurofilament Proteins - analysis; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; postmortem; prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - pathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychoses; Pyramidal Cells - pathology; pyramidal neurons; Schizophrenia; Schizophrenia - pathology; somal size; Schizophrenia; pyramidal neurons; neurofilament protein; postmortem; prefrontal cortex; somal size; Human; Pathophysiology; Postmortem; Exploration; Prefrontal cortex; Cell subpopulation; Psychosis; Neurofilament; Immunoreactive form; Pyramidal neuron; Cadaver; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0006-3223; 1873-2402
• DOI: 10.1016/S0006-3223(03)00294-4

Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia may be related to morphologic abnormalities of pyramidal neurons in the dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC) and the largest pyramidal neurons in deep layer 3 may be most affected. Immunoreactivity (IR) for the nonphosphorylated epitopes of neurofilament protein (NNFP) identifies a subset of large dPFC deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons. We tested the hypotheses that the average size of NNFP-IR neurons is smaller in schizophrenia and that the decrease in size of these neurons is greater than that observed in the general population of deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons. We estimated the mean somal volume of NNFP-IR neurons in deep layer 3 of 9 in 13 matched pairs of control and schizophrenia subjects and compared the differences in somal size of NNFP-IR neurons to the differences in size of all deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons identified in Nissl-stained material. In subjects with schizophrenia, the somal volume of NNFP-IR neurons was nonsignificantly decreased by 6.6%, whereas that of the Nissl-stained pyramidal neurons was significantly decreased by 14.2%. These results suggest that the NNFP-IR subpopulation of dPFC pyramidal neurons are not preferentially affected in schizophrenia. Thus, a subpopulation of dPFC deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons, other than those identified by NNFP-IR, may be selectively vulnerable in schizophrenia.