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Brain Sciences
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Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry
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Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychiatric Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 10981

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jianyou Guo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 4 Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100101, China
Interests: psychiatric diseases; major depression; anxiety; stress; neuropharmacology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the proportion of the burden of mental illness on contemporary humanity has increased continuously. A series of mental problems, such as stress, anxiety, and depression, have seriously affected people’s normal life and brought psychiatry and mental health into public view. Neuropharmacology is the science that studies the mechanism of drug action for the treatment of neurological diseases, and its main task is to guide the rational clinical use of drugs and develop new drugs according to clinical demand.

Thus, the aim of this Special Issue is to explore new drug targets and therapeutic techniques for these psychiatric diseases from pathogenesis. We aim to provide references for neurological drug development. We invite authors to submit review articles or original research articles with a primary focus on the treatment and prevention of relevant neurological disorders.

Dr. Jianyou Guo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • major depression
  • anxiety
  • stress
  • bipolar disorder
  • psychiatric diseases
  • neuropharmacology
  • treatment
  • novel methods
  • novel targets

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1794 KiB  
Article
A Novel CaMKII Inhibitory Peptide Blocks Relapse to Morphine Seeking by Influencing Synaptic Plasticity in the Nucleus Accumbens Shell
by Zhuo Liu, Jianjun Zhang, Linqing Miao, Qingyao Kong, Xiaodong Liu and Longchuan Yu
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(8), 985; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12080985 - 26 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1755
Abstract
Drugs of abuse cause enduring functional disorders in the brain reward circuits, leading to cravings and compulsive behavior. Although people may rehabilitate by detoxification, there is a high risk of relapse. Therefore, it is crucial to illuminate the mechanisms of relapse and explore [...] Read more.
Drugs of abuse cause enduring functional disorders in the brain reward circuits, leading to cravings and compulsive behavior. Although people may rehabilitate by detoxification, there is a high risk of relapse. Therefore, it is crucial to illuminate the mechanisms of relapse and explore the therapeutic strategies for prevention. In this research, by using an animal model of morphine self-administration in rats and a whole-cell patch–clamp in brain slices, we found changes in synaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) shell were involved in the relapse to morphine-seeking behavior. Compared to the controls, the amplitude of long-term depression (LTD) induced in the medium spiny neurons increased after morphine self-administration was established, recovered after the behavior was extinguished, and increased again during the relapse induced by morphine priming. Intravenous injection of MA, a new peptide obtained by modifying Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) inhibitor “myr-AIP”, decreased CaMKII activity in the NAc shell and blocked the reinstatement of morphine-seeking behavior without influence on the locomotor activity. Moreover, LTD was absent in the NAc shell of the MA-pretreated rats, whereas it was robust in the saline controls in which morphine-seeking behavior was reinstated. These results indicate that CaMKII regulates morphine-seeking behavior through its involvement in the change of synaptic plasticity in the NAc shell during the relapse, and MA may be of great value in the clinical treatment of relapse to opioid seeking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry)
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18 pages, 5262 KiB  
Article
CysLT2R Antagonist HAMI 3379 Ameliorates Post-Stroke Depression through NLRP3 Inflammasome/Pyroptosis Pathway in Gerbils
by Li Zhou, Jiajia Zhang, Xue Han, Jie Fang, Shasang Zhou, Lingqun Lu, Qiaojuan Shi and Huazhong Ying
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(8), 976; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12080976 - 24 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2455
Abstract
Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a kind of prevalent emotional disorder following stroke that usually results in slow functional recovery and even increased mortality. We had reported that the cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 2 (CysLT2R) antagonist HAMI3379 (HM3379) contributes to the improvement of [...] Read more.
Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a kind of prevalent emotional disorder following stroke that usually results in slow functional recovery and even increased mortality. We had reported that the cysteinyl leukotriene receptor 2 (CysLT2R) antagonist HAMI3379 (HM3379) contributes to the improvement of neurological injury. The present study was designed to investigate the role of HM3379 in PSD-induced chronic neuroinflammation and related mechanisms in gerbils. The gerbils were subjected to transient global cerebral ischemia (tGCI) and spatial restraint stress to induce the PSD model. They were randomized to receive the vehicle or HM3379 (0.1 mg/kg, i.p.) for a consecutive 14 days. In the PSD-treated gerbils, HM3379 had noteworthy efficacy in improving the modified neurological severity score (mNSS) and depression-like behaviors, including the sucrose preference test and the forced swim test. HM3379 administration significantly mitigated neuron loss, lessened TUNEL-positive neurons, and reduced the activation of microglia in the cerebral cortex. Importantly, HM3379 downregulated protein expressions of the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome and pyroptosis including NLRP3, cleaved caspase-1, interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-18, cleaved gasdermin-N domain (GSDMD-N), and apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain (ASC). Mechanistically, HM3379 could repress pyroptosis via inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation under oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) stimulation. Knockdown of CysLT2R by short hairpin RNA (shRNA) or overexpression of CysLT2R by lentivirus (LV)-CysLT2R could abolish or restore the anti-depression effect of HM3379. Our results demonstrated that the selective CysLT2R antagonist HM3379 has beneficial effects on PSD, partially by suppressing the NLRP3 inflammasome/pyroptosis pathway. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry)
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21 pages, 8347 KiB  
Article
Dose Optimization of Anxiolytic Compounds Group in Valeriana jatamansi Jones and Mechanism Exploration by Integrating Network Pharmacology and Metabolomics Analysis
by Chengbowen Zhao, Xiaojia Wei, Jianyou Guo, Yongsheng Ding, Jing Luo, Xue Yang, Jiayuan Li, Guohui Wan, Jiahe Yu and Jinli Shi
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(5), 589; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12050589 - 30 Apr 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2719
Abstract
Anxiety disorder impacts the quality of life of the patients. The 95% ethanol extract of rhizomes and roots of Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Zhi zhu xiang, ZZX) has previously been shown to be effective for the treatment of anxiety disorder. In this study, the [...] Read more.
Anxiety disorder impacts the quality of life of the patients. The 95% ethanol extract of rhizomes and roots of Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Zhi zhu xiang, ZZX) has previously been shown to be effective for the treatment of anxiety disorder. In this study, the dose ratio of each component of the anxiolytic compounds group (ACG) in a 95% ethanol extract of ZZX was optimized by a uniform design experiment and mathematical modeling. The anxiolytic effect of ACG was verified by behavioral experiments and biochemical index measurement. Network pharmacology was used to determine potential action targets, as well as predict biological processes and signaling pathways, which were then verified by molecular docking analysis. Metabolomics was then used to screen and analyze metabolites in the rat hippocampus before and after the administration of ZZX-ACG. Finally, the results of metabolomics and network pharmacology were integrated to clarify the anti-anxiety mechanism of the ACG. The optimal dose ratio of ACG in 95% ethanol extract of ZZX was obtained, and our results suggest that ACG may regulate ALB, AKT1, PTGS2, CYP3A4, ESR1, CASP3, CYP2B6, EGFR, SRC, MMP9, IGF1, and MAPK8, as well as the prolactin signaling pathway, estrogen signaling pathway, and arachidonic acid metabolism pathway, thus affecting the brain neurotransmitters and HPA axis hormone levels to play an anxiolytic role, directly or indirectly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry)
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Review

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17 pages, 533 KiB  
Review
Targeting NMDA Receptors in Emotional Disorders: Their Role in Neuroprotection
by Siqi Wang, Lihua Bian, Yi Yin and Jianyou Guo
Brain Sci. 2022, 12(10), 1329; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci12101329 - 30 Sep 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2946
Abstract
Excitatory glutamatergic neurotransmission mediated through N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NMDARs) is essential for synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. While under pathological states, abnormal NMDAR activation is involved in the occurrence and development of psychiatric disorders, which suggests a directional modulation of NMDAR activity that [...] Read more.
Excitatory glutamatergic neurotransmission mediated through N-methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NMDARs) is essential for synaptic plasticity and neuronal survival. While under pathological states, abnormal NMDAR activation is involved in the occurrence and development of psychiatric disorders, which suggests a directional modulation of NMDAR activity that contributes to the remission and treatment of psychiatric disorders. This review thus focuses on the involvement of NMDARs in the pathophysiological processes of psychiatric mood disorders and analyzes the neuroprotective mechanisms of NMDARs. Firstly, we introduce NMDAR-mediated neural signaling pathways in brain function and mood regulation as well as the pathophysiological mechanisms of NMDARs in emotion-related mental disorders such as anxiety and depression. Then, we provide an in-depth summary of current NMDAR modulators that have the potential to be developed into clinical drugs and their pharmacological research achievements in the treatment of anxiety and depression. Based on these findings, drug-targeting for NMDARs might open up novel territory for the development of therapeutic agents for refractory anxiety and depression. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neuropharmacological Research in Psychiatry)
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