Current Neuropharmacology - Volume 22, Issue 5, 2024

Background: Abundant evidence suggests that inflammatory cytokines contribute to the symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) by altering neurotransmission, neuroplasticity, and neuroendocrine processes. Given the unsatisfactory response and remission of monoaminergic antidepressants, anti-inflammatory therapy is proposed as a feasible way to augment the antidepressant effect. Recently, there have be Read More

Fear-, anxiety- and stress-related disorders are among the most frequent mental disorders. Given substantial rates of insufficient treatment response and often a chronic course, a better understanding of the pathomechanisms of fear-, anxiety- and stress-related disorders is urgently warranted. Epigenetic mechanisms such as histone modifications - positioned at the interface between the biological and the environme Read More

A large body of research supports the role of stress in several psychiatric disorders in which anxiety is a prominent symptom. Other research has indicated that the gut microbiome-immune system- brain axis is involved in a large number of disorders and that this axis is affected by various stressors. The focus of the current review is on the following stress-related disorders: generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social Read More

Despite intensive research efforts to understand the molecular underpinnings of psychological stress and stress responses, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain largely elusive. Towards this direction, a plethora of stress rodent models have been established to investigate the effects of exposure to different stressors. To decipher affected molecular pathways in a holistic manner in these models, metabolomics Read More

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a stress-related mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 20% and, thus, is one of the most prevalent mental health disorders worldwide. Many studies with a large number of patients support the notion that abnormalities of the hypothalamus-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis are crucial for the development of MDD. Therefore, a number of strategies and drugs have been investigate Read More

Neurotensin (NT) is a 13-amino acid neuropeptide widely distributed in the CNS that has been involved in the pathophysiology of many neural and psychiatric disorders. There are three known neurotensin receptors (NTSRs), which mediate multiple actions, and form the neurotensinergic system in conjunction with NT. NTSR1 is the main mediator of NT, displaying effects in both the CNS and the periphery, while NTSR2 is mainly ex Read More

Exposure to acute and chronic stress has a broad range of structural effects on the brain. The brain areas commonly targeted in the stress response models include the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex. Studies in patients suffering from the so-called stress-related disorders -embracing post-traumatic stress, major depressive and anxiety disorders- have fairly replicated animal models of stress resp Read More

Background: Post-mortem examination of the brain is a key strategy to increase our understanding of the neurobiology of mental disorders. While extensive post-mortem research has been undertaken on some mental disorders, others appear to have been relatively neglected.Objective: The objective of the study was to conduct a systematic review of post-mortem research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).Methods: A Read More

Objective: Synthesis of functional MRI (fMRI) and functional connectivity (FC) analysis data on human stress system (SS) function, as it relates to the dynamic function of the Salience (SN), Default Mode (DMN) and Central Executive (CEN) networks.Methods: Systematic search of Medline, Scopus, Clinical Trials.gov, and Google Scholar databases of studies published prior to September 2022 resulted in 28 full-text articles included fo Read More