Identifying the Molecular Mechanisms of Psychiatric Disorders to Define New Therapeutic Targets
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Neurobiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 51451
Special Issue Editors
Interests: angelman syndrome; neurodevelopmental disorders; cellular neurophysiology; bioinformatics; transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: cognition; plasticity; psychiatry; molecular biology; electrophysiology; Alzheimer's; neurodegenerative diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Psychiatric disorders constitute a broad group of diseases, including anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and autism. Psychiatric disorders have specific behavioral and mental patterns and are characterized by atypical behavior, ideas, perceptions, emotions, and relationships. Currently, therapeutic approaches revolve around imbalance in the function of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, GABA, and norepinephrine for most psychiatric disorders. However, although new generations of neurotransmitter-based therapies (including antipsychotics, serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors) are available, the efficacy of these medications is limited. In addition, relapse rates in psychiatric disorders are relatively high, indicating the potential involvement of other pathological mechanisms. Indeed, recent genetics and molecular biology studies have shown that the pathogenesis of major psychiatric illnesses involves hundreds of genes and numerous signaling pathways. This Special Issue aims to present new data regarding cellular and molecular mechanisms contributing to such disorders to nominate new candidate targets for future drug development.
Keywords
- anxiety
- depression
- schizophrenia
- bipolar disorders
- autism spectrum disorders
- signaling pathways