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Differences in neuroanatomical sites of apoD elevation discriminate between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Molecular Psychiatry volume 8, pages 167–175 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

We previously demonstrated that apolipoprotein D (apoD) levels are elevated in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate obtained postmortem from subjects with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder compared to controls, suggesting a focal compensatory response to neuropathology associated with psychiatric disorders. We have now extended those studies by measuring apoD protein levels in additional brain regions from post-mortem samples of schizophrenic and bipolar disorder subjects using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Increased apoD levels were observed in the lateral prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 46) in both schizophrenia (46%) and bipolar disorder (111%), and in the orbitofrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 11) (44.3 and 37.9% for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, respectively). However, differences between the disease groups were observed in other brain regions. In subjects with schizophrenia, but not bipolar disorder, apoD levels were significantly elevated in the amygdala (42.8%) and thalamus (31.7%), while in bipolar disorder, but not schizophrenia, additional increases were detected in the parietal cortex (Brodmann Area 40; 123%) and the cingulate cortex (Brodmann Area 24; 57.7%). These data demonstrate that there is anatomical overlap in the pathophysiologies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as areas of pathology that distinguish the two disorders.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by NIH Grant GM32355, NHMRC Grant 193299 and Digital Gene Technologies. We thank Geoffrey Pavey for neuroanatomical dissections. We thank Nicholas Keks and Christine Hill for case-history review and subsequent diagnosis of the schizophrenic and bipolar subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA

    E A Thomas & J G Sutcliffe

  2. Rebecca Cooper Research Laboratories, Mental Health Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia

    B Dean, E Scarr & D Copolov

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Correspondence to J G Sutcliffe.

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Thomas, E., Dean, B., Scarr, E. et al. Differences in neuroanatomical sites of apoD elevation discriminate between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Mol Psychiatry 8, 167–175 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001223

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