Benzodiazepine binding sites in amygdala and hippocampus of depressed suicide victims.

Lower cortical beta-adrenoceptor binding sites in post-mortem samples from depressed suicide victims.

Role of serotonin in the pathophysiology of depression: focus on the serotonin transporter.

Considerable evidence has accrued in the last two decades to support the hypothesis that alterations in serotonergic neuronal function in the central nervous system occur in patients with major depression. These findings include the following: (a) reduced cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), the major metabolite of serotonin (5-HT) in drug-free depres...

Serotonin transporter binding sites and mRNA levels in depressed persons committing suicide.

The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) has been found altered in postmortem brain samples from persons committing suicide, but the results of radioligand binding studies have been inconsistent. In the present series of experiments, autoradiographic radioligand binding and in situ hybridization techniques were utilized to examine 5-HTT function in the brains of 8 depressed subjects who had committed ...

Imidazoline receptor proteins are decreased in the hippocampus of individuals with major depression.

BACKGROUND A downregulation of I(2)-imidazoline binding sites has been reported in frontal cortices of depressed suicide victims, according to I(2)-radioligand binding and confirmed by Western blotting. We now report Western blots of imidazoline receptor proteins in hippocampi of subjects with and without depression at the time of death. METHODS Postmortem diagnoses were obtained from 17 case...

Altered Organization of GABAA Receptor mRNA Expression in the Depressed Suicide Brain

Inter-relationships ordinarily exist between mRNA expression of GABA(A) subunits in the frontopolar cortex (FPC) of individuals that had died suddenly from causes other than suicide. However, these correlations were largely absent in persons that had died by suicide. In the present investigation, these findings were extended by examining GABA(A) receptor expression patterns (of controls and dep...