Citation

González AM, Pascual J, Meana JJ, Barturen F, del Arco C, Pazos A, García-Sevilla JA. J. Neurochem. 1994; 63(1): 256-265.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1046/j.1471-4159.1994.63010256.x

PMID

7911511

Abstract

To examine directly in the brain the status of alpha 2-adrenoceptors in major depression, the specific binding of the agonist [3H]UK 14304 was measured by quantitative receptor autoradiography in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of suicide victims (n = 17) with a retrospective diagnosis of depression (n = 7) or other psychiatric disorders (n = 10) as well as of matched control subjects (n = 9). In suicide victims, a significant increase in the number of alpha 2-adrenoceptors was found in the CA1 field (40%) and dentate gyrus (20%) of the hippocampus and in the external layers I (33%) and II (31%) of the frontal cortex, compared with that in matched controls. In depressed suicide victims, the increase in alpha 2-adrenoceptors in the CA1 field (57%) was significantly greater (24%, p < 0.05) than that observed in the group of suicide victims with other diagnoses (26%). In the same depressed suicide victims, the increase in cortical alpha 2-adrenoceptors was restricted to layer I (34%) and it was equivalent to that found in layer I (33%) of suicide victims with other diagnoses. The results indicate that suicide is associated with increases in the high-affinity state of brain alpha 2-adrenoceptors adrenoceptors and that there is a pronounced localized increase of this inhibitory receptor in the hippocampus of depressed suicide victims.

Language: en

Keywords

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists; Adult; Autoradiography; Binding Sites; Brain Chemistry; Brimonidine Tartrate; Cerebral Cortex; Depression; Female; Hippocampus; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Quinoxalines; Receptors, Adrenergic, alpha-2; Suicide