Researchers in the Netherlands have identified a possible biological marker in the brain linked to severe suicidal thoughts.
A study, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, found higher levels of a receptor called P2RX7 in brain tissue from people who had died by suicide or euthanasia.
The receptor is involved in how cells respond to stress and inflammation, as well as how they process energy.
Researchers claim the discovery could explain why suicidal thoughts develop and why some people recover.
Scientists from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience examined brain tissue donated to the Netherlands Brain Bank. They initially compared samples from people with and without mood disorders, but found no difference in the part of the brain they were looking at.
However, when researchers grouped the donors according to how they had died, they found higher levels of P2RX7 in tissue from people who had died by suicide or euthanasia, than in those who passed away from natural causes.
Lin Zhang, researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, said: ‘This suggests that the biological processes linked to severe suicidal thoughts may be partly separate from those linked to depression.’
The study can’t show whether changes in P2RX7 contribute to suicidal thoughts or happen as a result of them.
Clues about recovery
The researchers also looked at people who’d died from natural causes and found some had experienced suicidal thoughts or attempted to kill themselves earlier in their lives. Their brain tissue did not show the same increase in P2RX7.
This suggests that levels rise during periods of suicidal thoughts, but fall again once the thoughts subside.
While the findings are a step in the right direction, researchers have said they weren’t able to prove whether this happens because the brain samples were only taken once.
‘These donors experienced suicidal thoughts at some point, so it is possible that their P2RX7 levels were once higher,’ Zhang explains. ‘But because they recovered, those levels may have fallen again. Unfortunately, we cannot yet confirm this using brain tissue collected at only one point in time.’
Going forward, the researchers have said they will be examining whether the same change can be detected in people who are currently experiencing thoughts to take their own life.
Experts at Amsterdam UMC plan to use PET scans to study P2RX7 in people who are still alive.
Zhang said: ‘I hope it could eventually become a useful biomarker. But first, we need to find out whether we can observe the same pattern in living people.’
‘We want to understand what happens when someone feels suicidal,’ she added. ‘But it may be even more important to understand what helps someone to be resilient to these thoughts.
‘Your brain loves you more than you imagine. Every cell in your body is trying to fight against your suicidal ideation. Even when it does not feel that way, recovery remains possible.’
The research can be read in full here.
Image: Sumaid pal Singh Bakshi/UnSplash
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