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Updated: May 31, 2026
Investigating Long-term Synaptic Plasticity in Interlamellar Hippocampus CA1 by Electrophysiological Field Recording
Published on: August 11, 2019
Hippocampal interneurons are abnormal in schizophrenia
Christine Konradi1, C Kevin Yang, Eric I Zimmerman
1Department of Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37232-8548, USA. christine.konradi@vanderbilt.edu
Objective:
The cellular substrate of hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenia remains unknown. We tested the hypothesis that hippocampal interneurons are abnormal in schizophrenia, but that the total number of hippocampal neurons in the pyramidal cell layer is normal.
Methods:
We collected whole hippocampal specimens of 13 subjects with schizophrenia and 20 matched healthy control subjects to study the number of all neurons, the somal volume of neurons, the number of somatostatin- and parvalbumin-positive interneurons and the messenger RNA levels of somatostatin, parvalbumin and glutamic acid decarboxylase 67.
Results:
The total number of hippocampal neurons in the pyramidal cell layer was normal in schizophrenia, but the number of somatostatin- and parvalbumin-positive interneurons, and the level of somatostatin, parvalbumin and glutamic acid decarboxylase mRNA expression were reduced.
Conclusions:
The study provides strong evidence for a specific defect of hippocampal interneurons in schizophrenia and has implications for emerging models of hippocampal dysfunction in schizophrenia.
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