Corticotropin-releasing factor immunoreactivity in post-mortem brain from depressed suicides

Abstract

Corticotropin-releasing factor immunoreactivity (CRF-I) was measured in cortical brain tissue obtained at post-mortem from 12 suicide victims with clear evidence of depressive illness and 12 age-matched and sex-matched control subjects dying by natural causes. There were no significant differences in mean CRF-I concentrations in frontal, temporal, motor and parietal cortex between the total suicide group, or the eight drug-free suicides and their matched controls. These findings suggest that cortical CRF-I concentrations are unaltered in depressive illness and are discussed in relation to recent reports of elevated CRF-I con centrations in the cerebrospinal fluid of depressed patients.