Selemon L D, Rajkowska G, Goldman-Rakic P S
Section of Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., USA.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1995 Oct;52(10):805-18; discussion 819-20. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1995.03950220015005.
In the past two decades, gross morphologic changes have been uncovered in the schizophrenic brain, eg, increased ventricular width and decreased cortical volume; however, relatively little is known about the area-specific and laminar density of cells in the schizophrenic cortex, particularly in prefrontal areas.
A direct, three-dimensional counting method was used to determine cell density in 16 brains from patients with schizophrenia, 19 from normal subjects, six from patients with schizoaffective disorder, and nine from patients with advanced-stage Huntington's disease.
Increased neuronal density was found in prefrontal area 9 (17%) and occipital area 17 (10%) in the schizophrenic brains. In area 9, neuronal density was increased in layers III to VI; cell packing of pyramidal and nonpyramidal neurons was elevated. Cortical thickness in the schizophrenic brains was slightly but not significantly reduced in both areas, with a disproportionate reduction in layer V in area 9. In contrast, brains with Huntington's disease exhibited markedly higher glial density (50%) and drastically reduced cortical thickness (28%).
Abnormally high density in the cerebral cortices of schizophrenics suggests that neuronal atrophy is the anatomic substrate for deficient information processing in schizophrenia.
在过去二十年中，已发现精神分裂症患者大脑存在大体形态学变化，例如脑室宽度增加和皮质体积减小；然而，对于精神分裂症患者皮质中特定区域和分层的细胞密度，尤其是前额叶区域，了解相对较少。
采用直接三维计数法测定16例精神分裂症患者、19例正常受试者、6例分裂情感性障碍患者和9例晚期亨廷顿舞蹈病患者大脑中的细胞密度。
精神分裂症患者大脑前额叶9区（17%）和枕叶17区（10%）的神经元密度增加。在9区，Ⅲ至Ⅵ层的神经元密度增加；锥体细胞和非锥体细胞的细胞堆积增加。精神分裂症患者大脑这两个区域的皮质厚度略有减小，但不显著，9区Ⅴ层的减小不成比例。相比之下，亨廷顿舞蹈病患者的大脑胶质细胞密度显著更高（50%），皮质厚度大幅减小（28%）。
精神分裂症患者大脑皮质密度异常增高表明，神经元萎缩是精神分裂症信息处理缺陷的解剖学基础。
