@article{ref1,
title="Mu opioid receptor availability in people with psychiatric disorders who died by suicide: a case control study",
journal="BMC psychiatry",
year="2012",
author="Scarr, Elizabeth and Money, Tammie T. and Pavey, Geoffrey and Neo, Jaclyn and Dean, Brian",
volume="12",
number="1",
pages="126-126",
abstract="BACKGROUND: Mu opioid receptors have previously been shown to be altered in people with affective disorders who died as a result of suicide. We wished to determine whether these changes were more widespread and independent of psychiatric diagnoses. METHODS: Mu receptor levels were determined using [3 H]DAMGO binding in BA24 from 51 control subjects; 38 people with schizophrenia (12 suicides); 20 people with major depressive disorder (15 suicides); 13 people with bipolar disorder (5 suicides) and 9 people who had no history of psychiatric disorders but who died as a result of suicide. Mu receptor levels were further determined in BA9 and caudate-putamen from 38 people with schizophrenia and 20 control subjects using [3 H]DAMGO binding and, in all three regions, using Western blots. Data was analysed using one-way ANOVAs with Bonferroni's Multiple Comparison Test or, where data either didn't approximate to a binomial distribution or the sample size was too small to determine distribution, a Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn's Multiple Comparison Test. RESULTS: [3 H]DAMGO binding density was lower in people who had died as a result of suicide (p<0.01). People with schizophrenia who had died as a result of suicide had lower binding than control subjects (p<0.001), whilst people with bipolar disorder (non- suicide) had higher levels of binding (p<0.05). [3 H]DAMGO binding densities, but not mu protein levels, were significantly decreased in BA9 from people with schizophrenia who died as a result of suicide (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Overall these data suggest that mu opioid receptor availability is decreased in the brains of people with schizophrenia who died as a result of suicide, which would be consistent with increased levels of endogenous ligands occupying these receptors.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1471-244X",
doi="10.1186/1471-244X-12-126",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-244X-12-126"
}