CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders) - Volume 22, Issue 2, 2023

Background: Depression is a debilitating disorder that at present lacks a reliable biomarker to aid in diagnosis and early detection. Recent advances in computational analytic approaches have opened up new avenues in developing such a biomarker by taking advantage of the wealth of information that can be extracted from a person’s speech. Objective: The current review provides an overview of the latest findings in t Read More

Present time nosology has its roots in Kraepelin’s demarcation of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, accumulating evidence has shed light on several commonalities between the two disorders, and some authors have advocated for the consideration of a disease continuum. Here, we review previous genetic, biological and pharmacological findings that provide the basis for this conceptualization. There is a cross-dis Read More

Background: Insomnia, defined as a difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep, is a relevant medical issue. Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are commonly prescribed to treat insomnia. Two phases characterize human sleep structure: sleep with Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) and sleep with Rapid Eye Movement (REM). Physiological sleep includes NREM and REM phases in a continuous cycle known as “Sleep Architecture.” Objectiv Read More

Background & Objective: We have previously identified aberrant connectivity of the left precuneus, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insula in patients with either a paranoid (schizophrenia), or a depressive syndrome (both unipolar and bipolar). In the current study, we attempted to replicate and expand these findings by including a healthy control sample and separating the patients in Read More

Background: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with fatigue and physiosomatic symptoms. Objective: The objective of this study is to delineate the associations between severity of fatigue and physio-somatic symptoms and glomerular filtration rate, inflammatory biomarkers, and Wnt/cateninpathway proteins. Methods: The Wnt-pathway related proteins β-catenin, Dickkopf-related protein 1 (DKK1), R-spondin- 1, an Read More

Background: Hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum (H-ABC) is a neurodegenerative disease with neurodevelopmental delay, motor, and speech regression, pronounced extrapyramidal syndrome, and sensory deficits due to TUBB4A mutation. In 2017, a severe variant was described in 16 Roma infants due to mutation in UFM1. Objective: The objective of this study is to expand the clinical manife Read More

Background: A meaningful part of schizophrenia patients suffer from physiosomatic symptoms (formerly named psychosomatic), which are reminiscent of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia (FF) and are associated with signs of immune activation and increased levels of tryptophan catabolites (TRYCATs). Aims: The study aims to examine whether FF symptoms in schizophrenia are associated with the brea Read More

Cariprazine is a piperazine derivative approved by the USFDA in 2015 as a novel atypical antipsychotic drug (APD) to treat adults with schizophrenia and bipolar manic or mixed episodes in adults. However, due to the partial agonist action on dopamine D2, D3 receptors, and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors as well as the antagonist effect on 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and H1 receptors, cariprazine differs pharmacologically from other APDs, Read More

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common mental illness that causes significant disability and declining quality of life. An overlap of multiple factors can be involved in the pathophysiology of this mood disorder, including increased inflammation and oxidative stress, change in neurotransmitters, decreased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), activation of the hypothalamicpituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis, and Read More

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia among geriatrics. It is a progressive, degenerative neurologic disorder that causes memory and cognition loss. The accumulation of amyloid fibrils and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain of AD patients is a distinguishing feature of the disease. Therefore, most of the current therapeutic goals are targeting inhibition of beta-amyloid synthesis and aggregation as well Read More

The human gut microbiota plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of central nervous system-related diseases. Recent studies suggest correlations between the altered gut microbiota and major depressive disorder (MDD). It is proposed that normalization of the gut microbiota alleviates MDD. The imbalance of brain-gut-microbiota axis also results in dysregulation of the hypothalamicpituitary- adrenal (HPA) axis. Read More

Although reducing psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia has been a major focus of therapeutic interventions for decades, improving cognition is considered a better predictor of functional outcomes. However, the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs (APDs) show only marginal beneficial effects on cognition in patients with schizophrenia. The neural mechanisms underlying cognitive disturbances in schizophrenia Read More

Background: Waterpipe smoking (WP) exposure involves a negative health impact, including memory deficit, which is attributed to the elevation of oxidative stress. Vitamin E (VitE) in combination with swimming exercise exerts protective effects that prevent memory impairment. In the current study, the modulation of WP-induced memory impairment by the combined effect of VitE and swimming exercise (SE) was investigated. Read More

Background: Clozapine may be considered the first-line option for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), a condition that occurs in more than 30% of patients with schizophrenia. Despite its efficacy for treating TRS, clozapine use is limited by the occurrence of several adverse effects in more than 70% of cases. Clozapine does not typically affect lung function, although a few cases have been reported in the literature. Ca Read More