Morphometric study of the frontal cortex in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis

In biopsic material collected from the frontal cortex of 6 patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) and 5 patients with posterior fossa tumors, we estimated the neuronal and synaptic numerical densities as well as the mean volume of the neurons from layers II and III. The thickness of these layers was also determined. The evaluation of the layer's thickness suggested that there was no difference in the shrinkage in SSPE as compared to controls. No differences were found between the neuronal numerical densities and the neuronal soma sizes from SSPE and controls. Conversely the synaptic numerical density was reduced in SSPE. Given the maintenance of the neuronal numerical density in the frontal cortex of patients with SSPE, the presence of a decreased density of synapses must be regarded as a consequence of the dendritic and axonal degeneration that we previously described in this condition. It must then be borne in mind that SSPE's functional and behavioral changes might spring from alterations of the frontal cortex neuronal circuitry.