Evidence for Oxidative Stress in Suicide Cases- A Postmortem Study

Aim: Many researchers have studied the oxidative mechanism and found that its disruption may play a role in the etiopathogenesis of certain psychiatric diseases such as major depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorders and schizophrenia, all of which have high suicide incidences. We aimed to investigate post-mortem suicide cases to test the hypothesis that the oxidative mechanism is disturbed by suicidal behaviours.

Methods: We performed this study on post-mortem blood samples of 35 suicide cases and 25 control patients with different mortis causa. The total antioxidant status (TAS) and total oxidant status (TOS) of the plasma were measured using a novel automated colorimetric measurement method.

Results: TAS levels were significantly higher in the suicide group compared to the control group. There was no significant difference in the TOS level between the two groups.

Conclusion: TAS is increased in the systemic circulation of people who commit suicide. We believe that TAS and TOS may be used as a diagnostic parameter in the future after further study. Additionally, antioxidant prophylaxis may be used in psychiatric disorders to prevent suicide.