The suicide brain: a review of postmortem receptor/transporter binding studies.
The present review summarizes the last 15 years of research involving postmortem receptor/transporter binding studies on brains of suicide victims. It is our working hypothesis, on the basis of psychological, behavioral and epidemiological studies, that suicidal behavior is an independent unique behavioral entity with specific neurochemical characteristics. This review tries to test this hypothesis at the level of neurotransmitter receptors by using a different approach to data analysis. We suggest that this statistical approach, involving multivariate analyses, can contribute to the formulation of new hypotheses at the level of molecular biology and genetics. Such studies if undertaken in the future, would help define suicidal behavior as a psycho-neuro-pathological entity.
Gross-Isseroff
R
R
Department of Membrane Research and Biophysics, Weizman Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. bmruth@weizmann.weizmann.ac.il
Biegon
A
A
Voet
H
H
Weizman
A
A
D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D013405:Suicide
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter