J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998;65:432 ( October )
Editorial commentary
Schizophrenia neuropathology: tortoises and hares
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A decade ago, the neuropathology of schizophrenia was an aging
tortoise being overtaken by the young hare of molecular genetics. The
smart money was on positional cloning finding the schizophrenia gene(s), after which the pathobiology of the disorder would finally be
revealed. The race, however, has taken a different turn. The hare is no
longer sure what race it is in, nor where the finishing line
is.1 Meanwhile, the tortoise has found a new turn of
speed, aided by the stiffening breeze of MRI evidence for structural abnormalities,2 new techniques, and better
methodologies.3 Although no findings akin to a diagnostic
lesion have been identified, there is an increasingly convergent body
of data that cytoarchitectural alterations in the cerebral cortex
accompany the disorder.4 By cytoarchitectural is meant
aspects of neuronal structure and distribution, such as perikaryal
size, shape, density and laminar position, as well as differences at
the level of the . . . [Full text of this article]