Astrocyte perturbations have also been studied in suicide. Astrocytic hypertrophy with longer-ramified processes was reported in ACC white matter (Torres-Platas et al. 2011) with downregulation of the dlPFC astroglial cytoskeletal proteins connexins 30 and 43 (Ernst et al. 2011). In addition, decreased expression of truncated TrkB (TrkB. T1), an astrocyte-specific neurotrophin receptor associated with epigenetic promoter methylation (Ernst et al. 2009), was observed in the frontal cortex of a subpopulation of suicide completers. The secreted calcium-binding astroglial extracellular matrix protein SPARC-like 1/hevin expression stimulates astrocyte-mediated excitatory synaptogenesis (Kucukdereli et al. 2011) and neurodevelopment (Eroglu 2009). Like TrkB.T1, SPARC-like 1/hevin expression is decreased in suicide completers (Zhurov et al. 2012).
