.. In the whole sample of suicide attempt patients,

we found negative correlations between APRL and (i) lethality of the most, lethal lifetime suicide attempt (p=-0.4; P<0.006; n=49), and (ii) buy PF-562271 number of suicide attempts (p=-0.3; P<0.04; n=49). Following Malone et al,23 we subdivided suicidal patients into those with high -lethality suicide attempt (score ≤3) and those with low-lethality suicide attempt (score <3), as measured by the Lethality Rating Scale, considering the lethality Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the most lethal lifetime suicide attempt. The high-lethality subgroup (n=25) showed significantly lower APRL levels than the lowlethality subgroup (mean±SD, 0.35±3.6 ug/L versus 4.7±6.4 ug/L; F<0.002 by U test). There was no statistical difference in baseline PRL values between these groups (mean±SD, 12.9±9 µg/L versus 12.1+8 µg/L; P>0.7 by U test). These values were not significantly influenced by sex, age, or weight. The clinical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and anamnestic characteristics studied were not statistically different between these two subgroups.

These results gave us some important information: We found that serotonergic dysfunction was associated with suicidal behavior in depressed patients, but not with depression itself. This could explain the divergent results observed with Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical this neuroendocrine test in previous studies, which did not specifically address the question of suicidal behavior in the samples of depressed patients. Patients with a history of recent suicide attempt did not have a different PRL response to Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical D-FEN from that of patients having made a suicide attempt in the distant past. This indicates that the medical damage itself did not account for the reduced serotonergic function observed in the suicide attempt group, and suggests that this reduced serotonergic function may be a trait marker of vulnerability to suicide. We found a negative correlation between PRL response to D-FEN and number of suicide attempts and lethality of the most lethal suicide attempt. In other words, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the lower the level of serotonergic function, the more

our depressed patients make suicidal attempts over time and the more lethal they are, supporting the idea that serotonin may be a stable marker of suicide vulnerability. The D-FEN test in schizophrenia A D-FEN test, as previously described,29 was performed in 33 drug-free Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mafosfamide Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)30 inpatients with schizophrenia (12 with a suicide attempt, 21 without) and 18 hospitalized healthy controls. Since comorbidity of depressive symptoms is frequent in schizophrenic patients,31,32 we did not include in our study patients presenting a significant depressive symptomatology, excluding any patients with a HAM-D-17 greater than 15, to reduce this eventual confounding factor.