Size of hippocampal pyramidal neurons in schizophrenia

BackgroundMeta-analyses of hippocampal size have indicated that this structure is smaller in schizophrenia. This could reflect a reduction in the size of constituent neurons or a reduced number of neurons.AimsTo measure the size of hippocampal pyramidal neurons in the brains of people with and without schizophrenia.MethodPyramidal neuron size in hippocampal subfields was estimated stereologically from sections taken at 5 mm intervals throughout the whole length of right and left hippocampi from the brains of 13 people with schizophrenia and 16 controls. Results were assessed using repeated-measures analysis of covariance looking for a main effect of diagnosis and gender, and interactions of these with side.ResultsWe were unable to detect significant differences related to diagnosis, gender or side for any hippocampal subfield for this series of cases.ConclusionsFor this series of brains, hippocampal cell size is unchanged in schizophrenia.