Motor Neuron Branching Patterns in Psychotic Patients

Excessive branching of subterminal motor nerves and multiple innervation of skeletal muscle fibers were significantly more common in 102 psychotic patients of various diagnostic types than in 23 age-matched normal control subjects. Increased branching of subterminal motor nerves was significantly more common in paranoid schizophrenic patients than in nonparanoid schizophrenic patients and normal control subjects. The results support the hypothesis of a neurogenic origin of the skeletal muscle fiber abnormalities that have been reported in psychotic patients.