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Background Several studies have reported elevated S100B serum levels in schizophrenia. Our study focused on its scavenger, soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE). Given the benefits of sRAGE in metabolic and inflammatory diseases, we hypothesized a similar effect in schizophrenia. Methods S100B and sRAGE concentrations were explored during acute paranoid schizophrenia and during reconvalescence. Serum samples from 26 inpatients were investigated on hospital admission (T0) and 6 weeks posttreatment (T6) by S100B-immunoluminometry and sRAGE-ELISA. Thirty-two matched healthy individuals served as controls. Psychopathology was monitored using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Results S100B ( p = .021) and sRAGE ( p = .020) were elevated in schizophrenic patients at T0. S100B levels normalized under antipsychotic treatment ( p = .003), whereas sRAGE increased further by T6 ( p = .005). Changes of S100B during treatment correlated inversely with ΔsRAGE ( r = −.422, p = .032). PANSS was negatively associated with sRAGE at T0 (positive score: r = −.415, p = .035; total score: r = −.395, p = .046). Conclusions Our results provide support for a reduction of S100B levels during reconvalescence from acute paranoid schizophrenia that is regulated by its scavenger sRAGE. This mechanism could provide novel treatment strategies.

Background Although pedophilia is of high public concern, little is known about underlying neural mechanisms. Although pedophilic patients are sexually attracted to prepubescent children, they show no sexual interest toward adults. This study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of deficits of sexual and emotional arousal in pedophiles. Methods Thirteen pedophilic patients and 14 healthy control subjects were tested for differential neural activity during visual stimulation with emotional and erotic pictures with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Regions showing differential activations during the erotic condition comprised the hypothalamus, the periaqueductal gray, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the latter correlating with a clinical measure. Alterations of emotional processing concerned the amygdala–hippocampus and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Conclusions Hypothesized regions relevant for processing of erotic stimuli in healthy individuals showed reduced activations during visual erotic stimulation in pedophilic patients. This suggests an impaired recruitment of key structures that might contribute to an altered sexual interest of these patients toward adults.

Background: Previous studies suggest that dysfunction of cortico-striato-pallido-thalamic (CSPT) circuitry may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia but also show that basal ganglia structure is highly plastic and may be influenced by antipsychotic treatments. Controversy remains about whether basal ganglia pathology can be detected in vivo among treatment-naive patients. We conducted a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study to examine basal ganglia structures and the limbic forebrain in first episode schizophrenia and healthy comparison subjects. Methods: Fifty-one patients with first-episode schizophrenia and 28 healthy comparison subjects participated in the study. A high-resolution, special contrast (white matter nulling) MRI sequence was used to measure the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, putamen, and subcommissural limbic forebrain. Results: Volumes of the basal ganglia regions of interest (adjusted for total brain volume and age) did not differ significantly between the groups. Age correlated significantly with caudate and putamen volumes bilaterally in the healthy comparison group, but not among patients. Conclusions: The findings suggest that there are no volumetric abnormalities in basal ganglia before treatment in first-episode schizophrenia. The lack of a negative correlation between age and striatal volume among patients may implicate illness-associated factors that alter normal age-related changes in basal ganglia size.

Volumes of the mesiotemporal structures (hippocampus-amygdala complex) were measured in 19 men who were chronic multiepisode schizophrenics and 18 age-matched healthy controls using T1-weighted contiguous coronal magnetic resonance images of 3.1-mm width. Using the level of the mammillary bodies as an anatomical landmark, the whole hippocampus-amygdala complex was divided into an anterior section (mainly containing amygdaloid tissue) and a posterior section (mainly containing the hippocampal formation). Total mesiotemporal tissue volume was reduced significantly in the patient group compared to controls (-11%), with significant reductions in both left (-20%) and right (-15%) hippocampal sections. Reduced limbic tissue volume was associated with increased severity of psychopathology. Severity of positive psychotic symptoms (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale [BPRS] psychosis factor) was correlated significantly with right and left total mesiotemporal volumes (Spearman rho's = -0.61 p0.01). Negative symptom scores (BPRS anergia factor, Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms [SANS] global items) were not significantly correlated with any mesiotemporal tissue volumes. The data corroborate and extend previous findings of temporolimbic structure volume reduction in schizophrenia, and suggest that the positive psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia are associated with anatomic anomalies in mesiotemporal structure.

Increased gliosis has been previously decribed in schizophrenic brain. In this study, the degree of gliosis in schizophrenic and control brains was assessed quantitatively using an antibody to glial fibrillary acidic protein, immunocytochemical techniques, and a computed image analysis system. Twenty separate brain areas were assessed, and no significant differences were found between the schizophrenic and control groups. It seems unlikely that a specific pattern of pathologically significant gliosis is present in schizophrenic brains. These negative findings are of note because of previously reported structural differences in the temporal lobe in the schizophrenic group in this series.

Etude comparative de la proliferation gliale au niveau du noyau caude dans les encephales de patients choreiques et de patients schizophrenes

The volume of the entorhinal region is significantly reduced in postmortem brains of schizophrenics compared with controls (p less than 0.017). In addition, a significant reduction of neurons (p less than 0.017), but no significant increase in absolute glial cell numbers, is found. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that structural changes in the medial temporal lobe of schizophrenics may be developmental in origin.