Ultrastructural abnormalities of astrocytic cell processes in prefrontal and visual cortex in schizophrenia

Aim: to perform electron microscopic morphometric study of astrocytic processes (AP), including those directly adjacent to axospinous synapses, in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and visual cortex (VC) in postmortem brains of schizophrenia patients and normal controls.

Material and methods: PFC and VC (Brodmann areas 10 and 17) obtained from autopsies of 20 cases of schizophrenia and 16 normal controls. Volume fraction (Vv) of APand Vv of mitochondria inside these processes, including those adjacentto axo-spinous synapses, were estimated layers I and II of the PFC and VC in the schizophrenia and control groups.

Results: in layer I of the PFC, a significant decrease in Vv of AP (-31%, p < 0,05), of AP mitochondria (-48%, p < 0,05) and Vv of AP adjacent to axospinous synapses (-44%, p < 0,05) were found in schizophrenia as compared to controls. No significant changes in any of those parameters were detected in the VC of the schizophrenia group compared with control group. In layer II a significantly lower Vv of AP were found only in the VC in schizophrenia (-38%, p < 0,01).

Conclusion: regressive decrease in the Vv of AP in schizophrenia is region-specific and might be associated with the decrease in the density and the dysfunction of axospinous synapses in the PFC. The changes might be of development origin.

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