Skip to main content
Full access
Letter to the Editor
Published Online: November 2004

The Hippocampus in Schizophrenia

To the Editor: Mary A. Walker, et al. (1) concluded that their stereological study of hippocampal volume and neuron number in schizophrenia provided evidence against a primary pathology of hippocampal structure and against the notion of schizophrenia as a limbic system disorder (2). While the stereological techniques employed allowed Ms. Walker et al. to draw strong inferences about hippocampal volume and cell number in schizophrenia, it is important to add some cautionary notes to their conclusions.
First, it is possible that subtle structural changes of the hippocampus involve primarily the anterior but not the posterior division (3). Ms. Walker et al. did not test for such a regionally selective volume difference. Furthermore, there is intriguing new evidence that only some hippocampal neurons are affected in schizophrenia (4, 5). Pathology in a subpopulation of hippocampal neurons could remain undetected with the study design of Ms. Walker et al.
Second, the fact that the photographic images of brain slices, but not the histological preparations, revealed smaller hippocampal volume in schizophrenia is intriguing. The histologically defined volume estimates included only the cell-containing regions, whereas the volume estimates derived from photographic images included adjacent tissue as well. Ms. Walker et al. interpreted this as evidence for changes of the parahippocampal gyrus to strengthen their argument that isocortical but not allocortical structures of the medial temporal lobe are abnormal in schizophrenia. However, an alternative explanation seems more likely: the tissue adjacent to the cell-containing regions that is reduced in volume in schizophrenia is the hippocampal white matter, which cannot be distinguished easily from hippocampal gray matter on unstained brain slices. A decrease of white but not gray matter volume and normal total number of all subpopulations of hippocampal neurons is exactly the finding of the only other stereological study of the hippocampus in schizophrenia (6).
It seems that the study by Ms. Walker et al. provides further evidence for a subtle abnormality of the hippocampus in schizophrenia, possibly leading to a disconnection of the hippocampus from isocortical modules in the frontal and temporal lobes.

References

1.
Walker MA, Highley JR, Esiri MM, McDonald B, Roberts HC, Evans SP, Crow TJ: Estimated neuronal populations and volumes of the hippocampus and its subfields in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 2002; 159:821–828
2.
Torrey EF, Peterson MR: Schizophrenia and the limbic system. Lancet 1974; 2:942–946
3.
Heckers S, Konradi C: Hippocampal neurons in schizophrenia. J Neural Transm 2002; 109:891–905
4.
Benes FM, Kwok EW, Vincent SL, Todtenkopf MS: A reduction of nonpyramidal cells in sector CA2 of schizophrenics and manic depressives. Biol Psychiatry 1998; 44:88–97
5.
Zhang ZJ, Reynolds GP: A selective decrease in the relative density of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampus in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2002; 55:1–10
6.
Heckers S, Heinsen H, Geiger B, Beckmann H: Hippocampal neuron number in schizophrenia: a stereological study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1991; 48:1002–1008

Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
Go to American Journal of Psychiatry
American Journal of Psychiatry
Pages: 2138-a - 2139

History

Published in print: November 2004
Published online: 28 January 2015

Authors

Affiliations

STEPHAN HECKERS, M.D.
Belmont, Mass.

Metrics & Citations

Metrics

Citations

Export Citations

If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.

For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Format
Citation style
Style
Copy to clipboard

There are no citations for this item

View Options

View options

PDF/ePub

View PDF/ePub

Get Access

Login options

Already a subscriber? Access your subscription through your login credentials or your institution for full access to this article.

Personal login Institutional Login Open Athens login
Purchase Options

Purchase this article to access the full text.

PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry

PPV Articles - American Journal of Psychiatry

Not a subscriber?

Subscribe Now / Learn More

PsychiatryOnline subscription options offer access to the DSM-5-TR® library, books, journals, CME, and patient resources. This all-in-one virtual library provides psychiatrists and mental health professionals with key resources for diagnosis, treatment, research, and professional development.

Need more help? PsychiatryOnline Customer Service may be reached by emailing [email protected] or by calling 800-368-5777 (in the U.S.) or 703-907-7322 (outside the U.S.).

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

Share

Share

Share article link

Share