Abstract
We are conducting 3D analysis of neurons in human brain tissue using synchrotron radiation computed tomography (CT) ; both nano‐CT and micro‐CT. Synchrotron radiation is generated by accelerating charged particles and used mainly as strong X‐rays. Application of the high‐brilliance X‐rays to the CT methodology allowed us to achieve a 3D resolution of approximately 10,000 times finer than that of the medical CT. We applied the nano‐CT to the analysis of postmortem brain tissue from schizophrenia and control cases and found that the curvature of neurites in schizophrenia is significantly correlated with the auditory hallucination score. These results indicate that schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder with significant changes in neural structure . Studies of human brain tissue are essential to elucidate the pathophysiology of such disorders and thus the importance and necessity of brain banks will only increase more in the future. The latter half of this paper outlines the organization and operation of the Stanley Medical Research Institute Brain Bank, which is one of the main brain banks for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in the U.S. We also summarize other current brain banks in the U.S. and their cooperation as a national resource.
