Research Department for Cognitive Neuropsychiatry and Psychiatric Preventive Medicine, LWL University Hospital Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Acta Neuropathol. 2010 Jun;119(6):771-8. doi: 10.1007/s00401-010-0673-2. Epub 2010 Mar 23.
The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) represents a phylogenetically ancient region of the mammalian brain that has undergone recent adaptive changes in humans. It contains a large spindle-shaped cell type, referred to as von Economo neuron (VEN) that has been shown to be involved in the pathophysiology of various neuropsychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia is a group of disorders that is, in part, characterised by a disruption of neuronal migration in early ontogeny and presumably secondary degeneration after the first psychotic episode in some patients. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that the density of VENs is reduced in a neurodevelopmental subtype of schizophrenia, which we defined by an early onset of the disorder. The density of VENs was estimated in layer Vb of Brodmann's area 24 in 20 subjects diagnosed with schizophrenia. The results were compared with 19 specimens from patients with bipolar disorder as a clinical control and 22 non-psychiatric samples. The density of VENs did not differ between the three groups. However, the VEN density in the right ACC correlated with the age at onset, and inversely with the duration of the illness in schizophrenia, but not in bipolar disorder. Thus, patients with early onset schizophrenia (and longer duration of illness) had a reduced VEN density. Age, sex, postmortem interval, brain weight, and cortical thickness had no significant impact on the results. These findings suggest that VENs in the ACC are involved in neurodevelopmental and perhaps neurodegenerative processes specific to schizophrenia.
扣带前皮质（ACC）代表了哺乳动物大脑中一个具有古老进化历史的区域，在人类中经历了最近的适应性变化。它包含一种大型梭形细胞类型，称为冯·埃科诺莫神经元（VEN），已被证明与各种神经精神疾病的病理生理学有关。精神分裂症是一组疾病，部分特征是在早期胚胎发生中神经元迁移中断，并且在一些患者首次出现精神病发作后可能继发退化。因此，我们检验了这样一个假设，即 VEN 密度在精神分裂症的一种神经发育亚型中降低，我们通过该疾病的早期发病来定义这种亚型。在 20 名被诊断患有精神分裂症的患者的布罗德曼区 24 层 Vb 中估计了 VEN 的密度。将结果与 19 名双相情感障碍患者的标本进行了比较，这些患者是临床对照，以及 22 名非精神病患者的标本。三组之间的 VEN 密度没有差异。然而，ACC 中的 VEN 密度与发病年龄相关，与精神分裂症的疾病持续时间呈负相关，但与双相情感障碍无关。因此，发病早的精神分裂症患者（以及更长的疾病持续时间）的 VEN 密度降低。年龄、性别、尸检间隔、脑重量和皮质厚度对结果没有显著影响。这些发现表明，ACC 中的 VEN 参与了精神分裂症特有的神经发育和可能的神经退行性过程。
