Abstract

Using quantitative autoradiography, the anatomical distribution of the binding sites (kainate, N-methyl-D-aspartate and quisqualate) for the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate has been established in the hippocampal formation from control and schizophrenic brains, post mortem. There is a loss of the kainate subtype particularly in schizophrenic hippocampi mainly from the CA4/CA3 mossy fibre termination zone of the cornu ammonis (CA4 and CA3; control and schizophrenic left hippocampus, respectively, 54.2 and 66.6 pmol/g; 18.3 and 17.9 pmol/g), as well as bilateral losses in the dentate gyrus (left 14.2 pmol/g and right 28.0 pmol/g; left 9.5 pmol/g and right 7.9 pmol/g, control and schizophrenic, respectively) and parahippocampal gyrus (left 50.8 pmol/g and right 41.7 pmol/g, left 27.7 pmol/g and right 25.3 pmol/g, control and schizophrenic, respectively). There is complete preservation of N-methy-D-aspartate sites in schizophrenic hippocampi, and a marginally significant loss of the quisqualate binding site in CA4/CA3 regions (left 249 fmol/g and right 306 fmol/g, left 157 fmol/g and right 148 fmol/g, control and schizophrenic, respectively). These findings reflect the possible importance of glutamate in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and represent novel targets for therapeutic manipulation in schizophrenia.