Schizophrenia-associated reduction of neuronal and oligodendrocyte numbers in the anterior principal thalamic nucleus

The anterior principal thalamic nucleus provides a nodal link for intralimbic circuits involved in the execution of multiple complex functions that are impaired in schizophrenia (SZ). Using stereoloic sampling procedures. we assessed the volume and the number of neurons and oligodendrocytes in this nucleus in well-characterized postmortem material from 23 neuroleptic treated subjects with chronic SZ (SZs) and 12 comparison subjects (Cs) with no psychiatric history. Volume was decreased on average by 17% in SZ, but this difference was not statistically significant. For neuronal number. there was a signifcant sex by diagnosis interaction with neuronal number being lower in male (p = .002) but not female (p = .374) SZs relative to their respective Cs. For the number of oligodendrocytes, there was a main effect of diagnosis and a diagnosis by sex interaction such that number was significantly reduced in male SZs (p < .001) with a similar trend in female SZs (p = .051) relative to their respective controls. The ratio of oligodendrocytes to neurons was signifcantly decreased in SZs (p = .045) with no sex by diagnosis interaction. These findings are consistent with a previous report of reduced neuronal number in the anterior principal nucleus of finale SZs and add to a growing body of evidence implicating oligodendrocyte abnormalities in SZ. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.