Altered pineal serotonin binding in some suicides.

Serotonergic abnormalities have been regularly reported in the brains of suicide victims. Because of evidence that pineal function is altered in depressed subjects and that serotonin-releasing axons may innervate the pineal, we assayed tritiated serotonin binding in a series of control and suicide pineals. High affinity binding was present, and there were apparent differences between some suicides and controls.