A neurohistological correlate of schizophrenia

We report an apparently consistent alteration of pyramidal cell orientation in ten chronic schizophrenic patients compared with eight nonschizophrenic controls from a Veterans Administration Medical Center. A blind study based upon measurement of over 13,000 cells indicates highly significant differences between the two groups, particularly in anterior and middle hippocampal regions. Cell disarray is most pronounced at the CA 1-prosubiculum and CA 1/CA 2 interfaces. Smaller degrees of deviation, noted in the controls, together with more extreme deviation reported in a previous qualitative study of chronic schizophrenics from a state hospital, could be interpreted as suggesting a histopathological continuum ranging from the clinically nonpsychotic individual, through borderline states to the intractable long-term psychotic.