Gender-related Alterations in Neurochemical Milieu of Suicide: An Analysis in Human Postmortem Brain

Author: Ritabrata Banerjee, Madhusudan Das and Anup Kumar Ghosh

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Abstract

Depression is a wide spread, incapacitating psychiatric disorder, with 10-30% of women and 7-15% of men in a population being tremendously affected with this disease at any given time. Depression can lead to suicide, a tragic fatality at its worst. The neurobiology of suicide has been studied by numerous researchers, although the specific molecular and pathophysiologic pathways are still unclear. The goal of the current study was to determine whether there were any changes in the expressions of BDNF, TrkB, NGF, and/or TrkA in the postmortem brains of suicide participants' hippocampus and amygdala, and whether these changes were connected to gender-specific psychopathologic conditions of suicide. Expression profiles of neurotrophins and their cognate receptors were assayed by Western Blotting. mRNA levels were also measured by RT-PCR. In this study it was found that the protein and mRNA levels of neurotrophins and their receptors were much lower in the hippocampus and amygdala of male suicide subjects, whereas female suicide victims showed decreased levels of same factors only in the hippocampal area. It indicates a possible sex-specific effect in the regulation of BDNF and NGF expressions and important insights into the altered neurochemical milieu of suicide.

Keywords

Gender, Hippocampus, Amygdala, Suicide, BDNF, NGF, TrkB, TrkA

Conclusion

We need to evaluate other critical factors of brain related to gender-specific depression induction towards suicide and sex-specific antidepressant response to ameliorate suicidal tendency among individuals.

References

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How to cite this article

Ritabrata Banerjee, Madhusudan Das and Anup Kumar Ghosh (2023). Gender-related Alterations in Neurochemical Milieu of Suicide: An Analysis in Human Postmortem Brain. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(1): 601-609.