Summary
In this study an analysis is made of the quantitative changes in four areas (10, 4, 24, 17) of the cerebral cortex of patients with schizophrenia, in comparison with the normal cortex. In all areas the relation between neuron number, nuclear volume and depth was measured.
Most obvious is the finding of neuronal destruction (57%) which is minimal in the layers II and III (40%) and maximal in the layers IV and V and partially in VI (70%).
In combination with this cell-loss, the cortical thickness is diminished over about 20%. This means that also the number of other cortical elements must be reduced.
The cell-loss is random, but minimal in area 17. The nuclei are swollen except in area 17.
It is possible that this pathological-anatomical substrate is mere a characteristic of dementia, and not of schizophrenia. Further research will be directed to this problem.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bok, S. T.: Der Einfluß der in den Furchen und Windungen auftretenden Krümmungen der Großhirnrinde auf die Rindenarchitektur. Z. ges. Neurol. Psychiat.121, 682–750 (1929).
—: A quantitative analysis of the structure of the cerebral cortex. Proc. Acad. Sci. (Amst.)35, 1–55 (1936).
Bouman, K. H.: Die pathologische Anatomie des Zentralnervensystems bei Schizophrenie. Psychiat. neurol. Bl.32, 517–539 (1928).
Cochran, W. G.: Some methods for strengthening the commonx 2tests. Biometrics10, 417–451 (1954).
Colon, E. J.: Quantitative cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex. Psychiat. Neurol. Neurochir. (Amst.)74, 291–302 (1971).
—, Smit, G. J.: Quantitative analysis of the cerebral cortex. II A method for analysing basal dendritic plexuses. Brain Res.22, 363–380 (1970).
Fünfgeld, E.: Bemerkungen zur Histopathologie der Schizophrenie. Z. ges. Neurol. Psychiat158, 232–234 (1937).
Glezer, I. I., Soukhoroukova, L. I.: Les particularités structurelles de la neurologie dans la schizophrenie à evolution periodique et continue. Zh. Neuropat. Psikhiat.66, 1529–1537 (1966).
Kirschbaum, W. R., Heilbrung, G.: Biopsies of brain schizophrenic patients and experimental animals. Arch. Neurol. Psychiat. (Chic.)51, 155 (1944).
Maximow, A., Bloom, W.: A textbook of histology, pp. 224–225. London: W. Saunders Comp. 1958.
Miskolczy, D.: Die örtliche Verteilung der Gehirnveränderungen bei Schizophrenie. Z. ges. Neurol. Psychiat.158, 203–208 (1937).
Rebhan, Ilse: Der Grauzellkoeffizient der menschlichen Hirnrinde. Berechnungen nach dem Zahlenmaterial v. Economos. Acta anat. (Basel)27, 361–386 (1956).
Scheller, H.: Morphologische Aspekte bei schizoformen Psychosen. Arzneimittel-Forsch.16, 279–281 (1966).
Tourney, G.: History of biological psychiatry in America. Amer. J. Psychiat.126, 29–42 (1969).
Vogt, C., Vogt, O.: Alterations anatomique de la schizophrenie. 1st. Int. Congr. Neuropath.1, 5–15 (1952).
Vogt, M.: The concentration of sympathine in different parts of the central nervous system under normal conditions and after administration of drugs. J. Physiol. (Lond.)123, 451 (1954).
Wildi, E., Linder, A., Costoules, G.: Schizophrenie et involution cérébrale sénile. Psychiat. et Neurol. (Basel)154, 1–26 (1967).
Yates, F.: The analysis of contingency tables with groupings based on quantitative characters. Biometrika35, 176–181 (1948).
Zaiko, Y. V.: Les alterations morphologiques des cerveau dans la schizophrenie compliquée de maladie hypertonique. Zh. Nervopat. Psikhiat. Korsakov66, 1692–1698 (1966).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Colon, E.J. Quantitative cytoarchitectonics of the human cerebral cortex in schizophrenic dementia. Acta Neuropathol 20, 1–10 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687897
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00687897