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β-Adrenoceptors in human pineal glands are unaltered in depressed suicides

Departments of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology

Sandra Lowther

Departments of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology

M. Rufus Crompton

Forensic Medicine, St George's Hospital Medical School, London SW17 0RE, UK

Cornelius L.E. Katona

Department of Psychiatry, University College London Medical School, London WIN 8AA, UK

Roger W Horton

Departments of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology

We have measured β-adrenoceptor binding in pineal glands obtained at post mortem from suicides with a firm retrospective diagnosis of depression, and from age and gender-matched controls. In both antidepressant-free and antidepressant-treated suicides there were no significant differences in the number or affinity of β- adrenoceptors compared to controls. Within the total group of subjects we found no variation in β- adrenoceptor binding in relation to time of death or season of death. There was a significant negative correlation between the number of β-adrenoceptors and age in controls, but not in suicides. These results suggest that pineal β-adrenoceptors are not altered either in depression or as a result of antidepressant treatment.

Key Words: antidepressant drugs • β-adrenoceptors • depression • pineal gland • post-mortem human brain • suicide

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