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Glial Cell Abnormalities in Major Psychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review of Postmortem Brain Studies

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Abstract

There have been a large number of reports about glial cell dysfunction being related to major psychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and major depressive disorder (MDD). In this review, we provide an overview of postmortem studies analyzing the structural changes of glial cells in these three major psychiatric diseases, including the density, number and size of glial cells, and the expression of related markers. Up to May 1, 2021, 108 articles that met the inclusion criteria were identified by searching PubMed and Web of Science. Although most studies evaluating total glial cells did not show abnormalities in the brains of postmortem patients, astrocytes, microglial cells, and oligodendrocytes seem to have specific patterns of changes in each disease. For example, out of 20 studies that evaluated astrocyte markers in MDD, 11 studies found decreased astrocyte marker expression in MDD patients. Similarly, out of 25 studies evaluating oligodendrocyte markers in SCZ, 15 studies showed decreased expression of oligodendrocyte markers in different brain regions of SCZ patients. In addition, activated microglial cells were observed in patients with SCZ, BD, and MDD, but suicide may be a confounding factor for the observed effects. Although the data from the included studies were heterogeneous and this cannot be fully explained at present, it is likely that there are a variety of contributing factors, including the measured brain regions, methods of measurement, gender, age at time of death, and medications.

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Acknowledgements

The author thanks his girlfriend Meng-Yuan Xu for assisting with the drawing of Figs. 2 and 3. We acknowledge the support National Science Foundation of China (82071676, 81703492) to Professor Yong Cheng.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (82071676, 81703492).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NHC Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Prevention and Treatment (Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital), Changsha, China

    Shu-Han Liu & Yong Cheng

  2. Center on Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Haidian District, 27 Zhongguancun South St, 100081, Beijing, China

    Shu-Han Liu, Yang Du, Lei Chen & Yong Cheng

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  1. Shu-Han Liu
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  2. Yang Du
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  3. Lei Chen
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  4. Yong Cheng
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Contributions

All authors have read and agree with the published version of the manuscript. Yong Cheng conceived and designed this study; Shu-Han Liu and Yang Du searched database and identified eligible studies; Shu-Han Liu and Lei Chen extracted the data; all authors critically reviewed the manuscript; Shu-Han Liu drafted the manuscript with critical revisions from Yong Cheng.

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Correspondence to Yong Cheng.

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Liu, SH., Du, Y., Chen, L. et al. Glial Cell Abnormalities in Major Psychiatric Diseases: A Systematic Review of Postmortem Brain Studies. Mol Neurobiol 59, 1665–1692 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-021-02672-8

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