title: The volumes of the fornix in schizophrenia and affective disorders: a post-mortem study.
abstract: Structural and functional pathology of limbic structures including the hippocampus are frequently replicated in schizophrenia. Although the fornix is the main afferent system of the hippocampus to the septal nuclei and the hypothalamus (especially the mammillary bodies), relatively few studies have investigated structural changes of the fornix in schizophrenia. We measured the volume of the fornix in post-mortem brains in 19 patients with schizophrenia, 9 patients with bipolar disorder, 7 patients with unipolar depression, and 14 control subjects by planimetry of serial sections. The volumes, the mean cross-sectional areas, and the anterior to posterior distances of the fornix did not differ among patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, unipolar depression, and control subjects. No lateralization existed between the right and the left fornices in among patients in the diagnostic groups and the control subjects. The fornix does not show morphometrical abnormalities in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression compared with control subjects, which might indicate that the fornix is not a primary focus of structural changes in these diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Otto-von-Guericke-University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany. ralfbrisch@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brisch
authors.forename: Hans-Gert
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Renate
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stauch
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dobrowolny
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Krell
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Truebner
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meyer-Lotz
authors.forename: Hendrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bielau
authors.forename: Johann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Steiner
authors.forename: Siegfried
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kropf
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gos
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Danos
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bogerts
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D020712:Fornix, Brain / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012688:Septum Pellucidum / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000473:pathology