Role of the Endogenous Cannabinoid System in Neuroinflammation and Its Therapeutic Potential in Neuropsychiatry
A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Medicine".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2024) | Viewed by 222
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cannabinoid receptors; psychiatry; neuroglia; animal models; neuropharmacology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Until recent years, most studies have focused on clarifying the role of different neuronal neurotransmitters in neuropsychiatry diseases. However, this scenario has changed since discovering the crucial role of microglia, which comprises about 10% of all brain cells, in normal development and in regulating ongoing structural and functional processes, from individual synapses to neural circuits and behavior. Microglia are activated under pathological conditions (e.g., infection, injury, and neurodegeneration) and serve as the significant orchestrator and executor of the inflammatory, protective, restorative, and toxic processes that affect neurons. Thus, microglia play an essential role in brain processes, including synaptic transmission and neuronal plasticity, that are implicated in neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression.
In this respect, increasing evidence points to the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in neuroinflammation. Different cannabinoid compounds have demonstrated their ability to exert anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects in different animal models. In addition, the cannabinoid CB2 receptor is associated with anti-inflammatory responses, including the inhibition of inflammatory mediators in both rodent and human microglial and astrocyte cells. CB2r activation also increases the release of anti-inflammatory cytokines in neuroinflammation, hypoxia–ischemia and Huntington´s disease models. All these pieces of evidence highlight the importance of understanding the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system as a crucial regulator of neuroinflammation and how it is involved in the development of neuropsychiatry diseases and its potential therapeutic role.
This Special Issue aims to emphasize this topic, encouraging all researchers interested in this field to present research articles or reviews on the role of the endogenous cannabinoid system in modulating neuroinflammation associated with neuropsychiatry diseases, either from a pathophysiological or from a therapeutic perspective.
Prof. Dr. María S. García Gutiérrez
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- cannabinoid receptors
- neuroinflammation
- neuropsychiatry
- microglia
- astroglia
- endogenous cannabinoid system
