Serotonin Chemistry in the Brain of Suicide Victims (IN: Review of Suicidology, 1997, edited by R W Maris, M M Silverman & S S Canetto)

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) has increasingly been found to be altered in the brain of suicide victims. This chapter reviews most of the research reports on 5-HT among suicides versus controls & concludes that suicides have: 1) more postsynaptic 5-HT receptors; 2) reduced serotonergic innervation; 3) more & greater density of 5-HT-synthesizing neurons, & 4) morphological alterations in dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) serotonergic neurons. (67 refs.)