Demonstration of disturbed activity of the lateral amygdaloid nucleus projection neurons in depressed patients by the AgNOR staining method.
BACKGROUND
The aim to find a morphological biomarker of disturbed activity of the lateral amygdaloid nucleus in depression was approached by a karyometric analysis of projection neurons.


METHODS
The study was performed on paraffin-embedded brains from 19 depressed patients from both the major depressive disorder (MDD) and the bipolar disorder (BD) diagnostic groups, including 10 suicides, and 24 matched controls. The karyometric parameters of the lateral amygdaloid nucleus (La) projection neurons bilaterally were evaluated by the argyrophilic nucleolar organiser region (AgNOR) silver staining method.


RESULTS
An increased AgNOR number was found in the right La in suicides compared to controls. The intra-group comparisons between the hemispheres suggest a disturbed amygdaloid lateralisation in depressed patients. The effects were independent from psychotropic medication. There was a strong positive correlation between the nuclear area in La projection neurons and prefrontal limbic areas pyramidal neurons in the right hemisphere specific for suicide and MDD.


CONCLUSIONS
A major limitation of this study is the relatively small number of cases. A further limitation is given by the lack of data on drug exposure across the entire lifespan.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that depressed patients from both the MDD and BD diagnostic groups exhibit an increased activity of the La output neurons specific for suicidal patients. The distinctness of the diagnostic groups of mood disorders was accentuated in the correlation analysis. This putative hyperactivity was specific for the right hemisphere and psychotropic medication most likely did not counteract it.
Gos
Tomasz
T
Institute of Forensic Medicine, Medical University of Gdańsk, Poland. gost@amg.gda.pl
Krell
Dieter
D
Bielau
Hendrik
H
Steiner
Johann
J
Mawrin
Christian
C
Trübner
Kurt
K
Brisch
Ralf
R
Bernstein
Hans-Gert
HG
Jankowski
Zbigniew
Z
Bogerts
Bernhard
B
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000679:Amygdala / Q000473:pathology*; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear / Q000032:analysis*; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007620:Karyometry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000473:pathology; D012016:Reference Values; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology
D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; C051963:nucleolar organizer region associated proteins