It has been hypothesized that a deficit in serotonin may be a crucial determinant in the pathophysiology of major depression. Serotonin-1A receptors are located on serotonin cell bodies in the midbrain dorsal raphe (DR) nucleus, and the activation of these receptors inhibits the firing of serotonin neurons and diminishes the release of this neurotransmitter in the prefrontal cortex. Repeated treatment with some antidepressant medications desensitizes serotonin-1A receptors in the rat midbrain. The present study determined whether the binding of [, an agonist at serotonin-1A receptors, is altered in the midbrain of suicide victims with major depression. Radiolabeling of the serotonin-1A receptor in the DR varied significantly along the rostral-to-caudal extent of the human midbrain. The binding of [ 3 H]8-OH-DPAT to serotonin-1A receptors was increased significantly in the midbrain DR of suicide victims with major depression as compared with psychiatrically normal control subjects. In suicide victims with major depression, the increase in the binding of [ 3 H]8-OH-DPAT to serotonin-1A receptors was detected in the entire DR and specifically localized to the dorsal and ventrolateral subnuclei. Enhanced radioligand binding of an agonist to inhibitory serotonin-1A autoreceptors in the human DR provides pharmacological evidence to support the hypothesis of diminished activity of serotonin neurons in suicide victims with major depression.

Serotonin1A (5-HT1A) and serotonin2A (5-HT2A) receptors in the brain have been implicated in the pathophysiology of suicide. Brain samples were collected at autopsy from suicide victims with a current episode of major depression and matched comparison subjects who died of natural or accidental causes. Retrospective psychiatric assessments were collected from knowledgeable informants for all suicide victims and most of the comparison subjects. Psychiatric diagnoses were determined according to DSM-III-R criteria. Any subjects with current psychoactive substance use disorders were excluded. Quantitative receptor autoradiography was used in serial sections of the right prefrontal cortex (area 10) and hippocampus to measure the binding of [3H]8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propyl)-aminotetralin ([3H]8-OH-DPAT) to 5-HT1A receptors and [3H]ketanserin to 5-HT2A receptors. Analysis of covariance was used to compare control subjects and suicide victims with major depression. The age of subjects, the time from death to freezing the tissue (postmortem interval), and the storage time of tissues in the freezer were used as covariates in the analyses. There were no significant differences between suicide victims with major depression and comparison subjects in 5-HT1A or 5-HT2A receptors in area 10 of the right prefrontal cortex or the hippocampus. The current results suggest that the number of 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptors in the right prefrontal cortex (area 10) or hippocampus are not different in suicide victims with major depression.

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Acute administration of neuroleptic drugs alters the extracellular level of ascorbate in the neostriatum, and increasing evidence suggests a role for this vitamin in the behavioral, and possibly therapeutic, effects of these drugs. To shed further light on this issue, extracellular ascorbate was recorded in the neostriatum and nucleus accumbens of awake, behaving rats following chronic treatment with either classical (haloperidol) or atypical (clozapine) neuroleptics or ascorbate itself. Electrochemically modified, carbon-fiber microelectrodes were lowered in place the day after the last of 21 daily injections of either haloperidol (0.5 mg/kg, SC), clozapine (20 mg/kg, IP), sodium ascorbate (500 mg/kg, IP) or vehicle. Voltammetric measurements were obtained during quiet rest and following administration of d-amphetamine (2.5 mg/kg). Repeated treatment with either haloperidol or ascorbate elevated basal extracellular ascorbate and potentiated the amphetamine-induced increase in ascorbate release in neostriatum but not nucleus accumbens. Both treatment groups also showed a significant increase in amphetamine-induced sniffing and repetitive head movements compared to vehicle-treated animals. In contrast, repeated clozapine had no effect on extracellular ascorbate in either neostriatum or nucleus accumbens, but increased the locomotor response to an amphetamine challenge. Thus, to the extent that increases in neostriatal ascorbate exert neuroleptic-like effects, such effects are likely to parallel haloperidol rather than clozapine.

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