Article contents
Nucleoprotein in the Nerve Cells of Mental Patients: A Critical Remark
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 February 2018
Extract
Hydén and Hartelius in a recent monograph (1) described nerve cell abnormalities which they consider to be characteristic of mental disease. Their investigations were based on biopsies obtained during prefrontal leucotomy carried out in 11 psychotic patients, 10 of whom belonged to the schizophrenic group. The biopsies were investigated by means of the ultraviolet microscope and the results compared with brain material from normal patients fixed a few hours after death. Two types of abnormal nerve cells were found in the psychotic patients: one type is narrow and shrunken with corkscrew-shaped apical process and appears dark in the photographs in contrast to the other type which is swollen and appears light in the photographs. Both these cells lacked polynucleotides in their cell bodies and contained only a small amount of other protein substances, as shown by the ultraviolet absorption spectra.
- Type
- Part I.—Original Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1949
References
- 14
- Cited by
eLetters
No eLetters have been published for this article.