image: Scatter plot of standard deviation of neurite curvature versus age. view more
Credit: TMIMS
Human mind develops with aging and is maturing after adult. The mechanism remains still unknown although the development may be thought to be the result of brain alteration derived from life style and environment. Schizophrenia onsets from puberty through early adulthood and is suspected to have involvement of brain development. Neural alteration remains unclear in schizophrenia. This study performed nanometer-scale three-dimensional analyses of post-mortem brain tissues of schizophrenia and control cases by using synchrotron radiation nanotomography (nano-CT). The distribution profiles of neurite curvature of the control cases showed a trend depending on their age, resulting in an age-correlated decrease in the standard deviation of neurite curvature (Pearson's r = -0.80, p = 0.018). In contrast to the control cases, the schizophrenia cases deviate upward from this correlation, exhibiting a 60% higher neurite curvature compared with the controls (p = 7.8 × 10-4). The neurite curvature also showed a correlation with a hallucination score (Pearson's r = 0.80, p = 1.8 × 10-4), indicating that neurite structure is relevant to brain function. It suggests the possibility to treat hallucination by adjusting the neurite curvature.
Article Title
Structural aging of neurons is opposite of the changes in schizophrenia Published in PLOS ONE
Article Publication Date
23-Jun-2023