Alterations in Monoamine Receptors in the Brain of Suicide Victims

Suicide has been linked to alterations in the serotonergic and noradrenergic systems. Using in vitro quantitative receptor autoradiography, we compared the binding of 125I-lysergic acid diethylamide (5-hydroxytryptamine-2 sites) and 125I-pindolol (beta-adrenergic sites) with slide-mounted sections from the prefrontal and the temporal cortex of a group of suicide victims, matched to control specimens on postmortem interval, age, sex, and race. A specific laminar distribution of 5-hydroxytryptamine-2 binding was found in both groups, with layers III and IV having the highest level of binding, but beta-adrenergic binding did not differ across cortical layers. Binding to both 125I-lysergic acid diethylamide and 125I-pindolol was increased in the prefrontal cortex of the suicide victims, whereas only beta-adrenergic binding was increased in the temporal cortex of the suicide group.