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Pharmacopsychiatry 2003; 36: 158-161
DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-45124
Original Paper
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Regio entorhinalis in Schizophrenia: More Evidence for Migrational Disturbances and Suggestions for a New Biological Hypothesis

S. Kovalenko1 , A. Bergmann2 , T. Schneider-Axmann2 , I. Ovary3 , K. Majtenyi4 , L. Havas4 , W. G. Honer5 , B. Bogerts6 , P. Falkai2
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
  • 2Department of Psychiatry, University of the Saarland, Medical Center, Homburg/Saar, Germany
  • 3Department of Psychiatry, Semelweiss University, Budapest, Hungary
  • 4Institute for Nervous and Mental Diseases, Budapest, Hungary
  • 5Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • 6Department of Psychiatry, Universtiy of Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
15 December 2003 (online)

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Recently we were able to replicate the original finding of migrational disturbances in the entorhinol cortex (ERC) of schizophrenic patients by measuring the distance of pre-alpha cell clusters to the pial surface. In order to replicate this finding, we performed a detailed analysis of the pre-alpha cell clusters in the ERC in post mortem brains of 22 schizophrenic patients and 15 control subjects. Cluster position relative to gray/white matter boundary were measured and normalized by the widths of the gray matter. In the ERC the pre-alpha cell clusters were situated significantly closer to the gray/white matter junction compared to normal controls (around 30 %, F = 9.52, p = 0.004). No specific effects of sex, age or region of investigation were found.

In summary, this is another quantitative replication of pre-alpha cell cluster migrational disturbances in schizophrenia, which are possibly linked to neurobiological abnormalities, e.g. myeloarchitectonic changes. This supports the notion that developmental abnormalities are a core feature of schizophrenia and that the search for candidate genes has to include this aspect, too. However, it is very probable that vulnerability-associated changes - as outlined here - have to be distinguished from disease-related changes.

Key words

schizophrenia - post mortem - ERC - pre-alpha cell clusters - neuronal migration - neurodevelopment

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Prof. Dr. med. Peter Falkai

Department of Psychiatry

University of the Saarland

Medical Center

D-66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany

Phone: (+49) 6841-162-4202

Fax: (+49) 6841-162-4270

Email: peter.falkai@uniklinik-saarland.de

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