The expression of 5-HT_(2A) R in hippocampus of suicide victims

Objective To explore the relationship between the expression of 5-HT 2A receptor and suicidal behavior, the expression of 5-HT 2A receptor in different hippocampus areas were observed both in suicide victims and normal controls. Methods The brain specimens of 10 suicide victims and 10 normal subjects were obtained from the Forensic Department of Xuzhou Medical College and the Police Station of Xuzhou City,Jiangsu Province. The tissue blocks of hippocampus were processed routinely to prepare paraffin sections, which were divided into two groups: one for HE staining, the other for immunohistochemistric staining to detect the expression of 5-HT 2A receptors. The immunohistochemistric stained sections were studied by using Leica Q Win image processing and analysis system, with the statistics proceeded in SPSS 10.0. Results No differences in histological characters of the hippocampus were found between suicide victims and control subjects in HE stained sections. The expression of 5-HT 2A receptors in different areas (CA1,CA2,CA3 and CA4) were significantly higher in suicide victims than in controls (P0.01), though there was no difference in DG. Conclusion The expression of 5-HT 2A R in hippocampus is significantly higher in suicide victims than in controls. The high expression of 5-HT 2A receptors may be a biological marker of complete suicide.