Postmortem Serotonergic and Adrenergic Receptor Binding to Frontal Cortex: Correlations With Suicide

The authors undertook a study of postsynaptic monoamine receptor binding in the frontal cortex of suicide victims compared to matched controls to assess the functional status of the serotonergic & noradrenergic systems. A statistically significant 28 percent increase was found in the number of 5-HT receptor in the frontal cortex of the suicide group. Beta-adrenergic binding in suicide victims was increased 78 percent over control values. Both overal beta-adrenergic binding & high affinity agonist binding were increased in tissue pooled from a subgroup of three subjects in the suicide victims compared to three controls. Findings are discussed. (12 refs)