Mu opioid receptor availability in people with psychiatric disorders who died by suicide: a case control study.

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.

• Authors: Elizabeth Scarr, Tammie Terese Money, Geoffrey Pavey, Jaclyn Neo, Brian Dean
• Journal: BMC psychiatry (BMC Psychiatry) Vol. 12 Pg. 126 (Aug 28 2012) ISSN: 1471-244X [Electronic] England
• PMID: 22925223 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Receptors, Opioid, mu

Topics

• Adult
• Bipolar Disorder (genetics, metabolism)
• Brain (metabolism)
• Case-Control Studies
• Depressive Disorder, Major (genetics, metabolism)
• Female
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Receptors, Opioid, mu (genetics, metabolism)
• Schizophrenia (genetics, metabolism)
• Suicide