The pathomorphology of schizophrenia and mood disorders: similarities and differences

In this article, post-mortem neurohistological and structural imaging studi es of schizophrenia and mood disorders are briefly reviewed. In contrast to the large number of post-mortem studies on schizophrenia published during the last 20 years, very few histological studies of affective disorders are available. After commenting on CT and MRI studies, as well as on neuropath ological findings on whole-brain size, cortex, frontal and temporal lobes, limbic system, basal ganglia, thalamus, brain stem, and cortical asymmetry, it is concluded that despite a broad overlap in structural findings in the so-called endogenous psychoses, heteromodal association cortex, limbic sys tem, and structural asymmetry are more affected in schizophrenia, while sub tle structural abnormalities in the basal ganglia, especially in the nucleu s accumbens and in hypothalamic areas, might play a crucial role in mood di sorders. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.