Blood Test to Determine Suicidal Tendencies on the Anvil

Researchers at University of New South Wales in Australia are currently developing a blood test that could help doctors determine whether a person is suicidal. The Australian researchers have been called in to help a team of Swedish scientists who had earlier found that people who were at a higher risk of committing suicide had ‘significantly higher’ levels of a neurotransmitter chemical known as quinolinic acid.

Associate Professor Gilles Guillemin from UNSW said that it will take them around 12 months to develop a blood test that can provide results to doctors within 24 to 48 hours. “We now know the mechanism and the molecule involved, so we have to find a simple way of testing it. We think it will take about 12 months to develop a test that could give doctors results in 24 to 48 hours”, Guillemin said.



Source-Medindia