Structural lesions of the brain in young schizophrenics

Swollen, degenerate and fragmented neurons of the septal nuclei and the nucleus ansae peduncularis are commonly found in chronic neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's or Huntington's disease, and rarely found in neurologically normal control patients without mental symptoms. These pathological lipid and pigment laden neurons appear to be a common feature of schizophrenia and have been consistently found in a series of unselected young (mean age 38) schizophrenics.