Visit our Expo - Redox and Inflammation signaling 2012

Session XVII : Cell signaling in health and disease Poster XVII, 4
Strongly reduced density of parvalbumin-immunoreactive projection neurons in the
mammillary bodies in schizophrenia: further evidence for limbic neuropathology
Hans-Gert Bernstein1, Stephanie Krause2, Dieter Krell1, Henrik Dobrowolny1, Renate
Stauch1, Karin Ranft1, Peter Danos2 and Bernhard Bogerts1
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Str. 44, D-39120
Magdeburg and 2Department of Psychiatry, 2University of Giessen, Germany; E-mail:
Hans-Gert.Bernstein@medizin.uni-magdeburg.de
The mammillary bodies are important relay nuclei within limbic and extralimbic connections.
They receive information from the hippocampus and are reciprocally connected to the anterior
thalamic nuclei, the septum and the midbrain. The mammillary bodies are known to play roles
in memory formation and are affected in alcoholism and vitamin B1 deficiency. Their
strategic position linking temporolimbic to frontothalamic brains structures make the
mammillary bodies candidates for alterations in schizophrenia. We studied 15 postmortem
brains of schizoprenics and 15 matched control brains from the Magdeburg Brain Collection.
A demographic and clinical history was available for all cases. Brains were fixed in formalin,
embedded in paraffin and cut into 20 µm thick coronal sections. Brain sections were stained
either for Heidenhain-Woelcke, calretinin or parvalbumin. We determined the volumes of the
mammillary bodies and performed cell countings using stereological principles and a
computerized image analysis system. Our volumetric calculations revealed that the volumes
of mammillary bodies do not differ between schizophrenics and controls. However, in
schizophrenia the neuronal densities were significantly reduced on both sides (on left side by
35.9%, on right side by 22 %). No changes were seen in the density of calretinin-containing
neurons, whereas the number of parvalbumin-immunoreactive mammillary neurons was
profoundly reduced (by more than 50%). This cell loss (as a result of developmental
malformation and/or neurodegeneration) points to a prominent involvement of the
mammillary bodies in the pathomorphology of schizophrenia. Parvalbumin-immunoreactive,
GABAergic interneurons have repeatedly been reported to be diminished in several brain
regions in schizophrenia. However, in the mammillary bodies parvalbumin labels a
subpopulation of glutamate/aspartate-containing neurons projecting to the anterior thalamus.
Thus, our data provide new evidence for impaired limbic circuits in schizophrenia.
Supported by NBL-3 and Stanley-Foundation.
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