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Microglial Reactivity in the Prefrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia with Different Types of Course

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Objectives. The aim of the study was morphometric assessment of the numerical density and ultrastructural parameters of microglia in the prefrontal cortex in chronic attack-like progressive and continuous schizophrenia as compared to healthy controls. Materials and methods. A post-mortem electron microscopy morphometric study was performed on microglia in the prefrontal cortex (layer 5 of Brodmann field 10). Ten cases of chronic attack-like progressive schizophrenia and nine of continuous schizophrenia and 20 healthy control cases were studied. The numerical density of microglia, microglial soma and nucleus areas, nucleus-cytoplasm ratio, volume fraction, area and number of mitochondria, vacuoles of endoplasmic reticulum, and lipofuscin granules were estimated. The schizophrenia and control groups were compared by covariance analysis. Results. Both groups showed significant decreases in the volume fraction and number of mitochondria and increases in these parameters for lipofuscin granules as compared with the control group. The group with attack-like progressive schizophrenia displayed significant increases in microglial density and in area of vacuoles as compared with the control group. Microglial density was increased in the subgroup of young(≤50 years) patients as compared with the subgroup of older people (>50 years) in the control group. Increases in microglial soma and nuclear areas were found in young patients as compared with the elderly people in the control group, elderly patients with attack-like progressive schizophrenia and young patients with continuous schizophrenia. In the group with attack-like progressive schizophrenia, in contrast to patients with continuous schizophrenia, microglial soma and nuclear areas and the number of mitochondria correlated negatively with age, while area of lipofuscin granules correlated positively with age and disease duration. Conclusions. Chronic attack-like progressive schizophrenia is characterized by increased microglial reactivity at young age and by dystrophic changes in microglia progressing with age and disease duration. Continuous schizophrenia is linked with decreased microglial reactivity and non-progressive dystrophic changes.

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  1. Mental Health Research Center, Moscow, Russia

    O. V. Vikhreva & N. A. Uranova

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  1. O. V. Vikhreva
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Correspondence to N. A. Uranova.

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Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 121, No. 12, Iss. 1, pp. 77–83, December, 2021

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Vikhreva, O.V., Uranova, N.A. Microglial Reactivity in the Prefrontal Cortex in Schizophrenia with Different Types of Course. Neurosci Behav Physi 52, 639–644 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-022-01289-1

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