Suicide and Serotonin: Study of Variation at Seven Serotonin Receptor Genes in Suicide Completers

Based on several lines of evidence supporting a reduced serotonergic neurotransmission in subjects who died by suicide, the authors investigated variation at genes that code for serotonin receptor 1B, 1Da, 1E, 2C, 5A & 6 in a total sample of 106 suicide completers & 120 normal controls. No differences were observed in allelic or genotypic distributions between groups. Further analysis according to suicide method or psychopathology also failed to reveal differences between groups. (43 refs)