Akbarian S, Kim J J, Potkin S G, Hetrick W P, Bunney W E, Jones E G
Department of Anatomy, University of California, Irvine, USA.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996 May;53(5):425-36. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.1996.01830050061010.
The cortical subplate is a transitory structure involved in the formation of connections in developing cerebral cortex. Interstitial neurons, normally present in subcortical white matter (WM) of the adult brain, have escaped the programmed cell death that eliminates most subplate neurons. Previous investigations indicated a maldistribution of one population of interstitial neurons in the WM of brains of schizophrenic patients, suggesting a defect of the subplate during brain development.
Three histochemically or immunocytochemically defined neuronal populations were studied in WM beneath the middle frontal gyrus of 20 schizophrenic patients and 20 matched control subjects.
Brains of schizophrenic patients showed significant changes in the distribution of the three neuronal populations: microtubule-associated protein 2 and nonphosphorylated neurofilament-immunoreactive neurons showed a decreased density in superficial WM and an increased density in deeper WM. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase neurons were reduced in superficial WM and showed variable densities in deeper WM. Thirty-five percent of the brains of schizophrenic patients but no brains of the control subjects showed a maldistribution of neurons toward deeper WM with at least two of the three markers. Changes in neuronal distribution were not linked to age, gender, autolysis time, or subtype of schizophrenia.
Selective displacement of interstitial WM neurons in the frontal lobe of brains of schizophrenic patients may indicate alteration in the migration of subplate neurons or in the pattern of programmed cell death. Both could lead to defective cortical circuitry in the brains of schizophrenic patients.
皮质下板是一种参与发育中的大脑皮质连接形成的过渡性结构。间隙神经元通常存在于成人大脑的皮质下白质（WM）中，它们逃脱了消除大多数皮质下板神经元的程序性细胞死亡。先前的研究表明，精神分裂症患者大脑白质中一群间隙神经元分布异常，提示大脑发育过程中皮质下板存在缺陷。
对20例精神分裂症患者和20例匹配的对照受试者额中回下方白质中通过三种组织化学或免疫细胞化学方法定义的神经元群体进行了研究。
精神分裂症患者的大脑在这三种神经元群体的分布上出现了显著变化：微管相关蛋白2和非磷酸化神经丝免疫反应性神经元在浅表白质中的密度降低，而在深部白质中的密度增加。烟酰胺腺嘌呤二核苷酸磷酸黄递酶神经元在浅表白质中减少，在深部白质中密度变化不定。35%的精神分裂症患者大脑出现了神经元向深部白质的分布异常，且至少有三种标志物中的两种出现这种情况，而对照受试者的大脑未出现这种情况。神经元分布的变化与年龄、性别、自溶时间或精神分裂症亚型无关。
精神分裂症患者大脑额叶间隙白质神经元的选择性移位可能表明皮质下板神经元迁移或程序性细胞死亡模式发生了改变。两者都可能导致精神分裂症患者大脑皮质回路缺陷。
