The pulvinar in schizophrenia: a postmortem study

精神分裂症中的 pulvinar：尸检研究

• 批准号: 6694101
• 负责人: WILLIAM M BYNE
• 金额: $ 22.89万
• 依托单位: ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-01-01 至 2005-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6694101
• 关键词: pulvinar; schizophrenia; postmortem; study

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent studies have directed attention to the thalamus in schizophrenia. Many of those studies have focused on the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus because of its connections with the dorsolaeral prefrontal cortex, a brain region consistently implicated in schizophrenia. In addition to the mediodnrsal nucleus, our recent neuroimaging and postmortem histological studies have implicated another thalamic nucleus, the pulvinar, in the diathesis of the disorders. We have found the pulvinar of schizophrenics to be reduced in volume and neuronal number relative to the pulvinar of normal subjects. The pulvinar is a complex nucleus comprising five subnuclei, each with a unique set of connections with other brain regions. Understanding which of its subnuclei are affected in schizophrenia is crucial to understanding how schizophrenia impairs communication among various brain regions. We aim to determine which of the subnuclei are characterized by changes in volume and neuronal number. This work must be carried out on postmortem brain material because these subnuclei cannot be seen in brain scans of living subjects. We will use computer-assisted morphometric techniques to measure the volume of each subnucleus in 12 schizophrenic subjects and 12 nonschizophrenic comparison subjects. We will also count the number of neurons in each subnucleus. In addition, will use immunocytochemistry for the calcium binding proteins, parvalbumin and calbindin, to identify neurons that project out of the thalamus to the cortex as opposed to neurons that remain in the thalmaus or project to noncortical regions. We predict that volume and neuron loss will primarily affect the medial subnucleus of the pulvinar because of its connections with other brain regions implicated in schizophrenia, and because it is believed to play a role in a variety of functions that are impaired in schizophrenia including language, selective attention, and saccadic eye movements. Atrophic changes have been described in schizophrenic cortex and hypothesized to be secondary to a lack of excitatory input. Because thalamocortical neurons provide excitatory input to cortex, we hypothesize that the pulvinar of schizophrenics will exhibit a deficit of cortically projecting neurons identified by immunostaining for parvalbumin and calbindin.

描述（由申请人提供）：最近的研究将注意力集中在精神分裂症的丘脑上。其中许多研究都集中在丘脑背内侧核上，因为它与背侧前额叶皮层（一个一直与精神分裂症有关的大脑区域）有联系。除了正中神经核，我们最近的神经影像学和死后组织学研究表明，另一个丘脑核，枕，在素质的疾病。 我们发现精神分裂症患者的枕体积和神经元数量相对于正常人的枕减少。枕是一个复杂的核团，由五个亚核团组成，每个亚核团都有一套独特的与其他大脑区域的连接。 了解哪些亚核在精神分裂症中受到影响，对于了解精神分裂症如何损害不同大脑区域之间的交流至关重要。我们的目的是确定哪些亚核的特点是体积和神经元数量的变化。这项工作必须在死后的大脑材料上进行，因为这些亚核不能在活体大脑扫描中看到。 我们将使用计算机辅助形态测量技术来测量每个亚核的体积在12精神分裂症的主题和12非精神分裂症的对照组。我们还将计算每个亚核中的神经元数量。此外，将使用免疫细胞化学的钙结合蛋白，小清蛋白和钙结合蛋白，以确定神经元的项目，丘脑的皮质，而不是神经元留在丘脑或项目的非皮质区域。我们预测，体积和神经元损失将主要影响枕内侧亚核，因为它与精神分裂症涉及的其他大脑区域的连接，因为它被认为在精神分裂症中受损的各种功能中发挥作用，包括语言，选择性注意和扫视眼球运动。精神分裂症患者大脑皮层出现萎缩性改变，并假设其继发于兴奋性输入的缺乏。 由于丘脑皮质神经元提供兴奋性输入到皮层，我们假设，精神分裂症患者的枕将表现出皮质投射神经元的免疫染色小清蛋白和钙结合蛋白的赤字。