Lower 3H-Paroxetine Binding in Cerebral Cortex of Suicide Victims is Partly due to Fewer High Affinity, non-Transporter Sites

Binding kinetics were assayed in prefrontrol & temporal cortex in matched pairs of suicide victims & controls using the selective ligand 3H-paroxetine & employing 1muM sertraline to define specific binding to the transporter & 10muM sertraline which also displaces binding to the high affinity, nontransporter site. The total number of 3H-paroxetine transporter & nontransporter binding sites (Bmax) was lower in the suicide group compared to controls in both Brodmann area 9 & in Brodmann area 38. In contrast, no differences were found in the number of high affinity transporter binding sites & concentrations of serotonin, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, 5-hydroxtryptophan or tryptophan. (42 refs.) JA