Siamionik I.*, Korneeva M.*, Fiodarava E.*, Rjabceva S.*, Nedzvedz M.**, Guzov S.**
*Centre of electron and light microscopy, Institute of physiology of National academy of science of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
**Department of Pathology, Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Belarus
Toufik’s Medical Journal
Volume 1, Supplement 1, November 2021
Abstract from Biomedical Perspectives III
Introduction: Increased cortical microgliosis in people with schizophrenia has previously been observed in post-mortem studies. We hypothesized that astrogliosis is associated with changes bodies of astrocytes in different cortical layers in the neocortex of individuals with schizophrenia.
Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze astrocytes cell density (ACD) and astrocytes cell body area (ACBA) in cortical layer I, III and V of the brain of patients with schizophrenia.
Materials and methods: A postmortem examination of the neocortex of the frontal and temp lobes of patients (2 patients with schizophrenia and 4 patients without brain diseases) was done. The immunohistochemical marker GFAP was used. The count glial cell (at least 100 cells in each cortical layer) in non-overlapping fields at high power magnification (x400) was performed. The area of one field was 66585.8 mm2. ACD and ACBA was analyzed using ImageJ. The non-parametric Mann-Withey test was done.
Results: The ACD in cortical layer I of patients with schizophrenia was increased by1.4 times (179.04 [134.28;238.72] cells/mm2 versus 126.82 [104.44;149.20] cells/mm2, p=0.0002), in cortical layer III – by 1.4 times (74.60 [59.68;104.44] cells/mm2 versus 59.68 [44.79;59.68] cells/mm2, p=0.0000) and in cortical layer V – by 1.2 times (104.44 [89.52;134.28] cells/mm2 versus 89.52 [44.76;119.36] cells/mm2, p=0.0023) compared to patients without this disease. The ACBA in cortical layer I of patients with schizophrenia was increased by 1.5 times (79.99 [62.48;99.62] µm2 versus 51.72 [41.67;64.66] µm2, p=0.0000), in cortical layer III was decreased by 1.5 times (37.84 [30.13;46.90] µm2 versus 55.39 [44.96;67.65] µm2, p=0.0000) and cortical layer V – by 1.1 times (40.48 [32.74;49.88] µm2 versus 43.86 [35.61;55.70] µm2, p=0.0056) compared to patients without this disease.
Conclusions: Reactive changes in astrocytes in different cortical layers of patients with schizophrenia were characterized by cell proliferation in cortical layer I, III and V, hypertrophy of interlaminar astrocytes (cortical layer I) and dystrophy of protoplasmic astrocytes (cortical layers III, V).