Citation

Leyton M, Paquette V, Gravel P, Rosa-Neto P, Weston F, Diksic M, Benkelfat C. Eur. Neuropsychopharmacol. 2006; 16(3): 220-223.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, 1033 Pine Avenue West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1A1.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.euroneuro.2005.09.006

PMID

16269239

Abstract

Low serotonin neurotransmission is thought to increase vulnerability to suicidal behavior. To test this hypothesis, we measured brain regional serotonin synthesis, as indexed by PET and alpha-(11)Cmethyl-L-tryptophan trapping, in 10 patients who had made a high-lethality suicide attempt and 16 healthy controls. Compared to healthy controls, suicide attempters had reduced normalized alpha-(11)Cmethyl-L-tryptophan trapping in orbital and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. alpha-(11)CMethyl-L-tryptophan trapping in these regions correlated negatively with suicide intent. Low serotonin synthesis in the prefrontal cortex might lower the threshold for suicidal behavior.

Language: en