Evidence for activation of microglia in patients with psychiatric illnesses

Activation of microglia/macrophages is a key event in response to pathological changes in the CNS. HLA-DR is a valuable immunohistochemical marker that specifically reacts with activated microglia cells. In order to elucidate a potential role of microgliosis in severe psychiatric illnesses, post-mor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 1999-08, Vol.271 (2), p.126-128
Main Authors: Bayer, Thomas A, Buslei, Rolf, Havas, Laszlo, Falkai, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Affective disorder
affective disorders
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Female
HLA-DR
HLA-DR Antigens - analysis
Humans
Immunohistochemistry
Immunostaining
Macrophage Activation
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Disorders - immunology
Mental Disorders - metabolism
Microglia - immunology
Middle Aged
Mood Disorders - immunology
Mood Disorders - metabolism
Post-mortem
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychoses
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - immunology
Schizophrenia - metabolism
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Summary:Activation of microglia/macrophages is a key event in response to pathological changes in the CNS. HLA-DR is a valuable immunohistochemical marker that specifically reacts with activated microglia cells. In order to elucidate a potential role of microgliosis in severe psychiatric illnesses, post-mortem frontal cortex and hippocampus of patients with schizophrenia ( n=14) and affective disorder ( n=6) and control specimens ( n=13) were studied. Additionally Alzheimer's disease cases ( n=8) were included as a human model system with typical neurodegenerative alterations and microglia activation. All patient groups revealed subjects with abundant microglia immunostaining (schizophrenia, three patients; affective disorder, one patient; Alzheimer's disease, four patients) in both gray and white matter. This finding provides evidence for distinct neuropathological changes in brains of patients with schizophrenia and affective disorder. The activation of microglia cells, which represent a major part of the brain immune response, may help to unravel the pathophysiological processes in severe psychiatric illnesses.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/S0304-3940(99)00545-5