White matter changes in schizophrenia: evidence for myelin-related dysfunction.
Numerous lines of inquiry implicate connectivity as a central abnormality in schizophrenia. Myelination and factors that affect myelination, such as the function of oligodendroglia, are critical processes that could profoundly affect neuronal connectivity, especially given the diffuse distribution of oligodendrocytes and the widespread distribution of brain regions that have been implicated in schizophrenia. Multiple lines of evidence now converge to implicate oligodendroglia and myelin in schizophrenia. Imaging and neurocytochemical evidence, similarities with demyelinating diseases, age-related changes in white matter, myelin-related gene abnormalities, and morphologic abnormalities in the oligodendroglia demonstrated in schizophrenic brains are all examined in light of the hypothesis that oligodendroglial dysfunction and even death, with subsequent abnormalities in myelin maintenance and repair, contribute to the schizophrenic syndrome.
Department of Psychiatry, Kastor Neurobiology of Aging Laboratories, Fishberg Research Center for Neurobiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA. kenneth.davis@mssm.edu
Kenneth L
KL
Davis
Daniel G
DG
Stewart
Joseph I
JI
Friedman
Monte
M
Buchsbaum
Philip D
PD
Harvey
Patrick R
PR
Hof
Joseph
J
Buxbaum
Vahram
V
Haroutunian
D000367:Age Factors; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016923:Cell Death / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology; D040081:Protein Array Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*