A morphometric analysis of the septal nuclei in schizophrenia and affective disorders: reduced neuronal density in the lateral septal nucleus in bipolar disorder.

The septal nuclei are assumed to play a significant role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and affective disorders. The aim of this study was to morphometrically characterize the septal nuclei in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder, when compared with healthy control subjects. We analyzed the septal nuclei by determining the density and size of the neurons in postmortem brains in 17 patients with schizophrenia, 8 patients with bipolar disorder, 7 patients with major depressive disorder, and 14 control subjects matched for age and gender. There was a significant reduction in the neuronal density, but not in the mean cross-sectional area, in the lateral septal nucleus (P = 0.013) in patients with bipolar disorder when compared with control subjects. There were no significant changes in the neuronal density of the septal nuclei of the medial and lateral cell groups in patients with schizophrenia and major depressive disorder when compared with control subjects. There was a significant negative correlation between neuronal density in the lateral septal nucleus and disease duration in patients with major depressive disorder (P = 0.037, r = -0.9). The histopathological abnormality of the decreased neuronal density in the lateral septal nucleus, which is an important limbic region involved in emotions, might be a neuropathological correlate of bipolar disorder.

S100B-immunopositive glia is elevated in paranoid as compared to residual schizophrenia: a morphometric study.

OBJECTIVE: Several studies have revealed increased S100B levels in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with schizophrenia. In this context, it was postulated that elevated levels of S100B may indicate changes of pathophysiological significance to brain tissue in general and astrocytes in particular. However, no histological study has been published on the cellular distribution of S100B in the brain of individuals with schizophrenia to clarify this hypothesis. METHODS: The cell-density of S100B-immunopositive glia was analyzed in the anterior cingulate, dorsolateral prefrontal (DLPF), orbitofrontal, and superior temporal cortices/adjacent white matter, pyramidal layer/alveus of the hippocampus, and the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus of 18 patients with schizophrenia and 16 matched control subjects. RESULTS: Cortical brain regions contained more S100B-immunopositive glia in the schizophrenia group relative to controls (P=0.046). This effect was caused by the paranoid schizophrenia subgroup (P=0.018). Separate analysis of white matter revealed no diagnostic main group effect (P=0.846). However, the white matter of patients with paranoid schizophrenia contained more (mainly oligodendrocytic) S100B-positive glia as compared to residual schizophrenia (P=0.021). These effects were particularly pronounced in the DLPF brain area. CONCLUSION: Our study reveals distinct histological patterns of S100B immunoeactive glia in two schizophrenia subtypes. This may be indicative of a heterogenic pathophysiology or distinct compensatory abilities: Astro-/oligodendroglial activation may result in increased cellular S100B in paranoid schizophrenia. On the contrary, residual schizophrenia may be caused by white matter oligodendroglial damage or dysfunction, associated with a release of S100B into body fluids.

Maintenance of internet-based prevention: a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: Excessive weight or shape concerns and dieting are among the most important and well-established risk factors for the development of symptoms of disordered eating or full-syndrome eating disorders. Prevention programs should therefore target these factors in order to reduce the likelihood of developing an eating disorder. The aims of this study were to determine the short-term and maintenance effects of an internet-based prevention program for eating disorders. METHOD: One hundred female students at two German universities were randomly assigned to either an 8-week intervention or a waiting-list control condition and assessed at preintervention, postintervention, and 3-month follow-up. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the intervention produced significant and sustained effects for high-risk women. CONCLUSION: Internet-based prevention is effective and can be successfully adapted to a different culture.