Regional Distribution of Norepinephrine and Dopamine in Brains of Depressive Suicides and Alcoholic Suicides

Measured norepinephrine (NE) & dopamine (DA) in 30 brain areas of 68 suicides & in controls. In no cases were the NE or DA levels in the suicide brains significantly less. Alteration of monoamine metabolism as an etiologic factor in depressive illness remains a possiblity. It is unlikely that an alteration of amine metabolism is involved, since 4 selected metabolizing enzymes previously studied showed no difference in activity & this study shows no depletion of amines.