Neuroglia in suicide

Suicide is the worst outcome for many neuropsychiatric disorders having a high social and economic burden. There is a great need to determine the neurobiologic background of the etiopathogenesis and resilience toward suicide and to find novel pharmacologic strategies to treat suicidal behaviors. Neuroglia have been found to actively participate in the regulation of many cerebral functions, but it is debated whether these cells are structurally or functionally involved in the neuropathology of suicide, or merely follow the changes of comorbid psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this chapter is to review the scattered literature on the involvement of neuroglia in suicide and to describe how these cells might be responsive to the current pharmacologic interventions. We describe the different biological features of neuroglia in relation to suicide and the underlying psychiatric disorders, the molecular commonalities of neuroglial alterations in suicide across different psychiatric disorders, and the evidence for morphologic neuroglia changes in relation to the severity and resilience of suicide. Illuminating the mechanisms by which neuroglia are involved in suicide may ultimately lead to the development of suicide-related biomarkers and novel therapies for suicide prevention.