The Interplay Between Suicidal Behavior and Mental Disorders: Focusing on the Role of Glial Cells

Glial cells exhibit multifaceted functions and represent essential contributors to various physiological processes in the brain, rather than just being silent supportive cells to neurons. Different glial populations of the central nervous system within involved brain regions play various functions, express different proteins, and result in fluctuating effects when altered. Glial cell pathologies were detected in most mental disorders including suicidal behavior. Suicidal behavior represents a health problem of high importance worldwide, where protective measures are required to be taken at many levels. Studies on patients with mental disorders that represent risk factors for suicidal behavior revealed multiple changes in the glia at diverse levels, including variations regarding the expressed glial markers. This review summarizes the role of glia in some psychiatric disorders and highlights the crosslink between changes at the level of glial cells and development of suicidal behavior in patients with an underlying psychiatric condition; in addition, the interplay and interconnection between suicidal behavior and other mental diseases will shed light on the routes of personalized therapy involving the development of glia-related drugs.