Dendrite decline in schizophrenia

Preliminary evidence indicates that a specific class of frontal-brain-cell connections shows dramatic reductions in schizophrenia. This disengagement of certain neurons from several other brain regions may contribute to thinking and memory problems typical of schizophrenia, contend Leisa A. Glantz and David A. Lewis, neuroscientists at the University of Pittsburgh.

Glantz and Lewis obtained samples of brain tissue taken at the autopsies of 15 adults who had experienced schizophrenia, 15 adults who had dealt with major depression or other psychiatric conditions, and 15 adults who hadn’t received any psychiatric diagnosis.