Current Neuropharmacology - Volume 19, Issue 11, 2021

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral condition found in 5-10% of school-age children and in 2-5% of adults. Stimulants affecting the dopaminergic, noradrenergic and/or serotonergic systems are commonly used for treatment in children and adults, including women of childbearing age. The data on the effects of stimulants (methylphenidate and amphetamines) in pregnancy are gen Read More

It is challenging to balance the fetal risks associated with the use of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) against maternal and fetal risks of seizure worsening, and therefore it is very important to define and distinguish the possible risks entailed by different AEDs. This paper aims to undertake a comprehensive review regarding the possible risks of four classical (phenytoin, carbamazepine, phenobarbital, and valproate) and two n Read More

Exposure in the womb to antiseizure medications and their potential impact on the brain of the developing child has long been researched. Despite this long period of interest, this review highlights that above the well-known risks associated with valproate exposure, there are more data required for conclusions regarding all other antiseizure medications. Limited experience with phenytoin and phenobarbital in monotherapy makes Read More

Progressive neurological damage after brain or spinal cord trauma causes loss of motor function and treatment is very limited. Clotting and hemorrhage occur early after spinal cord (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), inducing aggressive immune cell activation and progressive neuronal damage. Thrombotic and thrombolytic proteases have direct effects on neurons and glia, both healing and also damaging bidir Read More

Background: Epilepsy represents one of the most common brain diseases among humans. Tissue acidosis is a common phenomenon in epileptogenic foci. Moreover, its role in epileptogenesis remains unclear. Acid-sensing ion channel-1a (ASIC1a) represents a potential way to assess new therapies. ASIC1a, mainly expressed in the mammalian brain, is a type of protein-gated cation channel. It has been shown to play a Read More

Over the decades, various interventions have been developed and utilized to treat epilepsy. However, the majority of epileptic patients are often first prescribed anti-epileptic drugs (AED), now known as anti-seizure drugs (ASD), as the first line of defense to suppress their seizures and regain their quality of life. ASDs exert their anti-convulsant effects through various mechanisms of action, including regulation of ion channels, Read More

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects several people worldwide and has devastating impacts on society with a limited number of approaches for its pharmacological treatment. The main causes of AD are not clear yet. However, the formation of senile plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, hyper-phosphorylation of tau protein, and disruption of redox homeostasis may cause AD. These causes have a positive correlat Read More

Neurodegenerative diseases (ND), as a group of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, are among the most prominent medical problems of the 21st century. They are often associated with considerable disability, motor dysfunction and dementia and are more common in the aged population. ND imposes a psychologic, economic and social burden on the patients and their families. Currently, there is no effective tre Read More

Autophagy and phagocytosis are two important endogenous lysosomal dependent clearing systems in the organism. In some neurological disorders, excessive autophagy or dysfunctional phagocytosis has been shown to contribute to brain injury. Recent studies have revealed that there are underlying interactions between these two processes. However, different studies show inconsistent results for the contribution of aut Read More

Acetylcholine in the brain promotes arousal and facilitates cognitive functions. Cholinergic neurons in the mesopontine brainstem and basal forebrain are important for activation of the cerebral cortex, which is characterized by the suppression of irregular slow waves, an increase in gamma (30- 100 Hz) activity in the electroencephalogram, and the appearance of a hippocampal theta rhythm. During general anesthe Read More

Pain is a prevalent biopsychosocial condition that poses a significant challenge to healthcare providers, contributes substantially to a disability, and is a major economic burden worldwide. An overreliance on opioid analgesics, which primarily target the μ-opioid receptor, has caused devastating morbidity and mortality in the form of misuse and overdose-related death. Thus, novel analgesic medications are needed that can effec Read More

An inverse correlation between the incidence of cancer and neurodegenerative disease has been observed, with the prevalence of cancer peaking around 60 years of age, then slowly tapering off as neurodegenerative diseases increase in the elderly. Although the diseases rarely occur concurrently, the same genes are differentially expressed between the diseases, with four transcription factors found to be in common f Read More

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neuromuscular disorder characterized by demyelination of neurons of the central nervous system (CNS). The pathogenesis of the disorder is described as an autoimmune attack targeting the myelin sheath of nerve cell axons in the CNS. Available treatments only reduce the risk of relapse, prolonging the remissions of neurological symptoms and halt the progression of the disorder. Read More

According to the World Health Organization, Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the major cause of death and disability and will surpass the other diseases by the year 2020. Patients who suffer TBI face many difficulties which negatively affect their social and personal life. TBI patients suffer from changes in mood, impulsivity, poor social judgment and memory deficits. Both open and closed head injuries have their own conse Read More

As one of the most important elements in our body, zinc plays a part in both the pathophysiology of depression and the antidepressant response. Patients suffering from major depression show significantly reduced zinc levels, which are normalized following successful antidepressant treatment. Recent studies have shown the interaction between zinc, GPR39 and neuropeptides, including galanin and neuropeptide Y (N Read More

Depression, a well-known mental disorder, has global prevalence, affecting nearly 17% of the population. Due to various limitations of the currently available drugs, people have been adopting traditional herbal medicines to alleviate the symptoms of depression. It is notable to mention that natural products, their derivatives, and their analogs are the main sources for new drug candidates of depression. The mechanisms incl Read More

New psychoactive substances (NPS) constitute a group of psychotropic substances, designed to mimic the effects of traditional substances like cannabis, cocaine, MDMA, khat, which was not regulated by the 1961 United Nations Convention on Narcotics or the 1971 United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Illegal laboratories responsible for their production regularly developed new substances and pla Read More

Food craving is a health issue for a considerable proportion of the general population. Medications have been introduced to alleviate the craving or reduce the appetite via a neuropharmacological approach. However, the underlying cerebral processing of the medications was largely unknown. This study aimed to meta-analyze existing neuroimaging findings. PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were searched to identify releva Read More