Frequency of brain tissue donation for research after suicide

Objectives: To describe the frequency of brain tissue donation for research purposes by families ofindividuals that committed suicide.Methods: All requests for brain tissue donation to a brain biorepository made to the families ofindividuals aged 18-60 years who had committed suicide between March 2014 and February 2016were included. Cases presenting with brain damage due to acute trauma were excluded.Results: Fifty-six cases of suicide were reported. Of these, 24 fulfilled the exclusion criteria, and11 others were excluded because no next of kin was found to provide informed consent. Of the21 remaining cases, brain tissue donation was authorized in nine (tissue fragments in seven and theentire organ in two).Conclusions: Donation of brain tissue from suicide cases for research purposes is feasible. Theacceptance rate of 42.8% in our sample is in accordance with international data on such donations,and similar to rates reported for neurodegenerative diseases.Keywords: Suicide; ethics; community mental health; molecular biology; neuroanatomy