The Mount Sinai Brain Bank was established in 1985. The NBTR obtains brain specimens from the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center, collaborating nursing homes, Veteran Affairs Medical Centers and the Suffolk County Medical Examiners Office. Diagnoses are made based on DSM-IV criteria and are obtained through direct assessment of subjects using structured interviews and/or through psychological autopsy by extensive review of medical records and informant and caregiver interviews52,53. Informed consent is obtained from the next of kin. The brain bank procedures are approved by the ISMMS IRB and exempted from further IRB review due to the collection and distribution of postmortem specimens. All samples for the study were dissected from the left hemisphere of fresh frozen coronal slabs cut at autopsy from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) from Brodmann areas 9/46. Immediately after dissection, samples were cooled to −190°C and dry homogenized to a fine powder using a L-N2 cooled mortar and pestle. Tissue was transferred on dry ice to ISMMS as a dry powder for DNA and RNA extraction.
