Project Summary

Leisa A. Glantz, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, proposes studying certain aspects of brain architecture that might be awry in schizophrenia and depression. Although the cause of these disorders is unknown, research shows that neuronal and synaptic circuitry is altered in both diseases. Given the central role that layer 3 pyramidal neurons play in corticocortical connectivity, Dr. Glantz hypothesizes that these neurons will exhibit abnormalities in dendritic and synaptic architecture in subjects with depression and schizophrenia, compared to matched normal control subjects. Dr. Glantz proposes studying the prefrontal and temporal cortices of three matched groups of post-mortem brains: subjects with depression, schizophrenia and normal controls (n=15 for each group). Dendritic parameters such as length and complexity and dendritic spine density (dendritic spines are markers of excitatory inputs) of 15 layer 3 Golgi-impregnated neurons from each cortical region of each subject will be measured and compared. This study should help determine the region- and disease-specific abnormalities in the number of cortical excitatory inputs and dendritic architecture in subjects with schizophrenia and depression. Alterations in these parameters may contribute to the pathophysiologic basis for cognitive deficits associated with each of these illnesses.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia\Molecular

Search Again