Neurobiological understanding of suicide

Sangha Kim; Kyoung-Uk Lee

doi:10.5124/jkma.2019.62.2.85

J Korean Med Assoc > Volume 62(2); 2019 > Article

Kim and Lee: Neurobiological understanding of suicide

Focused Issue of This Month

Medical Approach to Suicide Prevention

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2019; 62(2): 85-92.

Published online: February 21, 2019

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2019.62.2.85

Neurobiological understanding of suicide

Sangha Kim, MD

, Kyoung-Uk Lee, MD

Department of Psychiatry, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Uijeongbu, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kyoung-Uk Lee. mindcure@catholic.ac.kr

Received January 24, 2019 Accepted January 28, 2019

Korean Medical Association

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Suicide is a complex phenomenon resulting from interactions between individual vulnerabilities and socio-environmental factors. The current review primarily focuses on research into the serotonin system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, neurotrophic factors, lipid metabolism, and functional neuroimaging studies. It has been found that dysfunctions in the serotonin system, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis abnormalities, and low brain-derived neurotrophic factor and cholesterol levels may be linked to suicide. Additionally, recent neuroimaging studies have suggested that structural and functional abnormalities in brain areas related to cognitive and emotional regulation may be associated with suicide. More research incorporating advanced methodological approaches may shed further light on the neurobiological basis of suicide.

Suicide; Neurobiology; Serotonin; Pituitary-adrenal system; Neuroimaging

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