3-D Golgi and image analysis of the olfactory tubercle in schizophrenia

OBJECTIVE: To examine morphologic changes in the olfactory tubercle (OT) sp iny neurons and astrocytes in Schizophrenia (SCh) by means of quantitative 3-D Golgi and immunocytochemical studies. STUDY DESIGN: Free-floating vibrotome sections of postmortem brain tissue f rom 10 controls and 12 Sch cases were used for Golgi study and glial fibril lary acidic protein (GFAP) immunocytochemistry. A gray level image analysis was applied for quantitative estimation of GFAP-positive astrocytes on uni form, randomly sampled sections. This method is effective for low-contrast objects on an uneven background. Golgi-impregnated OT spiny neurons were an alyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively in three dimensions with a sem iautomated microscope-computer system. From digitized image of the neurons, various metric parameters were estimated to characterize the dendritic tre e. RESULTS: In cases of Sdl, degenerative changes in the dendritics of OT spin y neurons were revealed. A decrease in the maximal radius of the dendritic tree and total length Of dendrites were accompanied by an increase ii? the length density of dendrites. Hypertrophy and a more-intensive GFFP reaction of astrocytes were found in OT of Sch. CONCLUSION: Based on these results, one can hypothesize that OT spiny neuro ns in Sch are involved in the process of dendritic reorganization, includin g degenerative changes in dendrites.