Novel studies at the microscopic level are establishing that the mood disorders arc associated with abnormalities in cell morphology and distribution, in addition to the long-recognized neurochemical abnormalities. Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BPD) have been examined in postmortem brain tissue by several laboratories in the past 6 years. Cell-counting studies report changes in the density and size of both Selleck RAD001 neurons and glia in a number of frontolimbic brain regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal, orbitofrontal, and anterior cingulate cortex, and the amygdala and hippocampus. These studies in postmortem brain tissue confirm and extend structural Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and functional neuroimaging studies that

reveal volumetric and metabolic changes in the same frontolimbic brain regions in the same disorders. Convergence of cellular changes at the microscopic level with neuroimaging changes detected in vivo provides a compelling Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical integration of clinical and basic research for disentangling the pathophysiology

of depression. Regionally localized and cell type-specific changes in neuronal and glial cytoarchitecture recently identified in mood disorders complement and expand hypotheses of dysfunction within the monoaminergic, glutamatergic, and γ-aminobutyric Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical acid (GABA) neurotransmitter systems in these disorders. While MDD and BPD are clearly not neurodegenerative Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical disorders, impaired neuroplasticity is associated with these mood disorders. The etiology of histopathological changes observed

in postmortem brain tissue is unknown. It is not clear how factors such as genetic risk factors, neurodevelopmental abnormalities, the progression of the disease, or exposure to antidepressant or mood-stabilizing medications contribute to the abnormal neuronal and glial observations in mood disorders. It remains to be determined whether the chronic administration of clinically effective therapeutic medications can reverse or even staunch histopathological changes in the mood disorders. Alterations in neurons and glia in cerebral cortex Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical In MDD and BPD, reductions in neuronal density and size in some populations of cortical neurons have been independently Suplatast tosilate reported.1-12 These abnormalities have been described in association cortices such as dorsolateral prefrontal, orbitofrontal, and anterior cingulate cortex, but not in the primary sensory cortical regions such as somatosensory1 or visual cortex.2 Thus, neuronal abnormalities at the microscopic level in mood disorders appear to be specific to frontolimbic cortical regions – observations in postmortem tissue that arc consistent with in vivo neuroimaging studies of volumetric and metabolic alterations in the same frontocortical regions. Neuronal abnormalities in mood disorders are not immediately evident, inasmuch as there is no significant reduction in the density of Nissl-stained neurons measured across all cortical laminae.