No abstract

A massive neuronal system was detected by immunocytochemistry and radioimmunoassay with antibodies to neuropeptide Y, the recently isolated peptide of the pancreatic polypeptide family. Immunoreactive cell bodies and fibers were most prevalent in cortical, limbic, and hypothalamic regions. Neuropeptide Y was extracted in concentrations higher than those of any other peptide hitherto discovered in the mammalian brain. Column chromatography of brain extracts and double immunostaining experiments indicate that neuropeptide Y is the endogenous brain peptide responsible for immunostaining of pancreatic polypeptide-like immunoreactivity in the mammalian brain.

No abstract

Out of 253 patients fulfilling criteria for a first episode of schizophrenic illness, 120 entered a randomised placebo-controlled trial of maintenance neuroleptic medication on discharge; they were followed to relapse or loss to follow-up, for two years or to the end of the study. Of those on active medication, 46% relapsed, as did 62% of those on placebo; the most important determinant of relapse was duration of illness prior to starting neuroleptic medication. This finding might be because extended duration of symptoms before admission is more likely to be present in illnesses which in any case will have poor prognosis, or because susceptibility to relapse is reduced by early institution of treatment. The study provides no data on which a decision between these alternative explanations can be based.

In this study the cross-sectional area (in n = 14 female controls, 15 male controls, 11 female patients with schizophrenia, 15 male patients with schizophrenia) and fibre composition (in n = 11 female controls, 10 male controls, 10 female patients with schizophrenia, 10 male patients with schizophrenia) of the corpus callosum in post-mortem control and schizophrenic brains was examined. A gender x diagnosis interaction (P = 0.005) was seen in the density of axons in all regions of the corpus callosum except the posterior midbody and splenium. Amongst controls, females had greater density than males; in patients with schizophrenia this difference was reversed. A reduction in the total number of fibres in all regions of the corpus callosum except the rostrum was observed in female schizophrenic patients (P = 0.006; when controlling for brain weight, P = 0.053). A trend towards a reduced cross-sectional area of the corpus callosum was seen in schizophrenia (P = 0.098); however, this is likely to be no more than a reflection of an overall reduction in brain size. With age, all subregions of the corpus callosum except the rostrum showed a significant reduction in cross-sectional area (P = 0.018) and total fibre number (P = 0.002). These findings suggest that in schizophrenia there is a subtle and gender-dependent alteration in the forebrain commissures that may relate to the deviations in asymmetry seen in other studies, but the precise anatomical explanation remains obscure.