Quantitative Cytoarchitectonic Findings in Postmortem Brain Tissue from Mood Disorder Patients

Abstract

A considerable body of pharmacological and neurochemical literature has accumulated on affective disorders. Until recently, however, there have been no quantitative neuroanatomical studies of these disorders at the microscopic level. Clinical neuroimaging studies and pre-clinical animal studies, however, strongly suggest that cell atrophy, cell loss or impairments in neuroplasticity and cellular resilience may underlie the neurobiology of primary mood disorders (i.e., major depressive disorder and bipolar manic-depressive disorder).