[Characteristics of the structural reorganization of the neurons of the reticular formation of human brain stem in schizophrenia].

Golgi technique was applied to the study of autopsied brain stems of mentally sane subjects and patients with paranoid schizophrenia. The geometry of neurons in magnocellular reticular nucleus was morphometrically assessed. Spiral-like primary dendrites were found and the orientation of secondary dendrites changed. In schizophrenic patients the cross-sectional area of neuronal soma, maximal radius of dendritic field, total dendrites length, the dendritic area span were decreased, and the dendrites' waviness increased.