Quantitative Proteomic Approaches to Investigate the Membrane Proteome in Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Disease and drug-related alterations in the brain membrane proteome are of particular interest for investigations into neuropsychiatric disorders. Despite decades of research into neurotransmitters and their receptors, our understanding of complex neuropsychiatric disorders has failed to advance substantially. Therefore, global membrane protein profiling studies that are non-hypothesis driven and exploratory are a complementary approach to elucidate the underlying pathomechanisms associated with psychiatric disorders. Although membrane proteins play critical roles in almost all cellular processes, their unique biochemical properties have challenged current quantitative proteomics approaches. The aim of the present review is to critically evaluate and discuss the use and applicability of current quantitative proteomic platforms, sample preparation methods and statistical tools in view of their application to membrane proteome analysis of brain tissue.