Dopamine-glutamate abnormalities in the frontal cortex associated with the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in schizophrenia

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Item Type:	Article
Title:	Dopamine-glutamate abnormalities in the frontal cortex associated with the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) in schizophrenia
Creators Name:	Brisch, R., Bernstein, H.G., Krell, D., Dobrowolny, H., Bielau, H., Steiner, J., Gos, T., Funke, S., Stauch, R., Knueppel, S. and Bogerts, B.
Abstract:	Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) plays an important role in brain catecholamine metabolism. Several studies point to the involvement of COMT in schizophrenia. We applied COMT immunohistochemistry to paraffin-embedded brain sections and assessed the cell density of COMT expressing glial cells and COMT expressing neurons in the gray matter of the frontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia compared with control subjects. We found a significantly increased cell density of COMT expressing glial cells (p=0.003), but an unchanged cell density of COMT expressing neurons (p=0.778) in the gray matter of the frontal cortex of patients with schizophrenia compared with control subjects. Our study demonstrates that schizophrenia might involve increased COMT expression in glial cells in the frontal cortex, which might be associated with a neuronal-glial abnormality and a disturbed dopamine-glutamate interaction.
Keywords:	Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT), Catecholamine, Dopamine, Schizophrenia, Paraffin-Embedded Human Brain Sections
Source:	Brain Research
ISSN:	0006-8993
Publisher:	Elsevier
Volume:	1269
Page Range:	166-175
Date:	7 May 2009
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2009.02.039
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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