title: Somal size of prefrontal cortical pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia: differential effects across neuronal subpopulations.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia may be related to morphologic abnormalities of pyramidal neurons in the dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC) and the largest pyramidal neurons in deep layer 3 may be most affected. Immunoreactivity (IR) for the nonphosphorylated epitopes of neurofilament protein (NNFP) identifies a subset of large dPFC deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons. We tested the hypotheses that the average size of NNFP-IR neurons is smaller in schizophrenia and that the decrease in size of these neurons is greater than that observed in the general population of deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons.
  
  
  METHODS
  We estimated the mean somal volume of NNFP-IR neurons in deep layer 3 of 9 in 13 matched pairs of control and schizophrenia subjects and compared the differences in somal size of NNFP-IR neurons to the differences in size of all deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons identified in Nissl-stained material.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In subjects with schizophrenia, the somal volume of NNFP-IR neurons was nonsignificantly decreased by 6.6%, whereas that of the Nissl-stained pyramidal neurons was significantly decreased by 14.2%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that the NNFP-IR subpopulation of dPFC pyramidal neurons are not preferentially affected in schizophrenia. Thus, a subpopulation of dPFC deep layer 3 pyramidal neurons, other than those identified by NNFP-IR, may be selectively vulnerable in schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
authors.forename: Joseph N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Pierri
authors.forename: Christine L E
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Volk
authors.forename: Sungyoung
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Auh
authors.forename: Allan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sampson
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001344:Autopsy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002452:Cell Count; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D017966:Pyramidal Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D016900:Neurofilament Proteins