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Compounds with Anxiolytic or Antidepressant Properties

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A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2023) | Viewed by 5853

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Joëlle Chabry

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Guest Editor

Institut de Pharmacologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Côte d'Azur, 660 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France
Interests: neurosciences; inflammation; innate immunity

Dr. Carine Bécamel

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Guest Editor

Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle (IGF), UMR5203 CNRS, U1191 INSERM Université de Montpellier, 34094 Montpellier, France
Interests: signalling pathways involved in psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia, depression; serotonin receptors; mTOR; biochemistry; electrophysiology; behavioral studies; proteomic

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Major depression and anxiety are devastating disorders with a major impact on public health and important socio-economic costs. They are not homogeneous disorders, but complex phenomena with many subtypes and probably several etiologies.

There is no doubt that the monoaminergic system is one of the cornerstones of the pathological processes of depression, such that the currently used antidepressant drugs almost all target these systems. However, one-third of patients are totally resistant, feel no relief or relapse after such treatment. Therefore, novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed.

Could endogenous molecules represent a new hope? Recent research highlights the fact that some endogenous neuropeptides, hormones and lipid neuromodulators may act directly or indirectly to counteract mood disorders. Among these endogenous molecules are a sortilin-derived peptide, digitalis-like compounds, thyroid hormones and endocannabinoids whose therapeutic potentials will be presented in this Special Issue. Additionally, a focus will be put on the adipose-derived hormones leptin and adiponectin, for which recent studies show their ability to fight against the establishment of anxiety and depression-like behaviors in rodents. This Special Issue will provide an overview of recent findings from basic and genetic research on the involvement of various endogenous molecules in the treatment of anxiety and mood disorders. Manipulating the levels of these hormones may eventually represent new therapeutic strategies to fight against depression.

Dr. Joëlle Chabry
Dr. Carine Becamel
Guest Editors

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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

antidepressant
anti-anxiety
endogenous compound
neuraminidase
histamine
acetylcholine
neurotransmitter

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 2562 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Effects of L-Methionine in the WAG/Rij Rat Model of Depression Comorbid with Absence Epilepsy

by Karine Yu. Sarkisova, Alexandra V. Gabova, Ekaterina A. Fedosova, Alla B. Shatskova, Victor B. Narkevich and Vladimir S. Kudrin

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(15), 12425; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241512425 - 4 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1113

Abstract

Depression is a severe and widespread psychiatric disease that often accompanies epilepsy. Antidepressant treatment of depression comorbid with epilepsy is a major concern due to the risk of seizure aggravation. SAMe, a universal methyl donor for DNA methylation and the synthesis of brain monoamines, is known to have high antidepressant activity. This study aimed to find out whether L-methionine (L-MET), a precursor of SAMe, can have antidepressant and/or anxiolytic effects in the WAG/Rij rat model of depression comorbid with absence epilepsy. The results indicate that L-MET reduces the level of anxiety and depression in WAG/Rij rats and suppresses associated epileptic seizures, in contrast to conventional antidepressant imipramine, which aggravates absence seizures. The antidepressant effect of L-MET was comparable with that of the conventional antidepressants imipramine and fluoxetine. However, the antidepressant profile of L-MET was more similar to imipramine than to fluoxetine. Taken together, our findings suggest that L-MET could serve as a promising new antidepressant drug with anxiolytic properties for the treatment of depression comorbid with absence epilepsy. Increases in the level of monoamines and their metabolites—DA, DOPAC, HVA, NA, and MHPG—in several brain structures, is suggested to be a neurochemical mechanism of the beneficial phenotypic effect of L-MET. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Compounds with Anxiolytic or Antidepressant Properties)

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21 pages, 44593 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Activating PPARβ/δ Protects against Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress-Induced Astrocytic Apoptosis via UCP2-Dependent Mitophagy in Depressive Model

by Juan Ji, Shangze Li, Zikai Jiang, Jianbing Yu, Yuqin Sun, Zhenyu Cai, Yinfeng Dong and Xiulan Sun

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(18), 10822; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms231810822 - 16 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2019

Abstract

As energy metabolism regulation factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) is thought to be a potential target for the treatment of depression. The present study was performed to evaluate the effects of activating PPARβ/δ, the most highly expressed subtype in the brain, in depressive in vivo and in vitro models. We observed that PPARβ/δ agonist GW0742 significantly alleviated depressive behaviors in mice and promoted the formation of autophagosomes around the damaged mitochondria in hippocampal astrocytes. Our in vitro experiments showed that GW0742 could reduce mitochondrial oxidative stress, and thereby attenuate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-mediated apoptosis pathway via inhibiting IRE1α phosphorylation, subsequently protect against astrocytic apoptosis and loss. Furthermore, we found that PPARβ/δ agonist induces astrocytic mitophagy companied with the upregulated UCP2 expressions. Knocking down UCP2 in astrocytes could block the anti-apoptosis and pro-mitophagy effects of GW0742. In conclusion, our findings reveal PPARβ/δ activation protects against ER stress-induced astrocytic apoptosis via enhancing UCP2-mediated mitophagy, which contribute to the anti-depressive action. The present study provides a new insight for depression therapy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Compounds with Anxiolytic or Antidepressant Properties)

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Review

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23 pages, 1476 KiB

Open AccessReview

Potential of Heterogeneous Compounds as Antidepressants: A Narrative Review

by Gonghui Hu, Meng Zhang, Yuyang Wang, Ming Yu and Yu Zhou

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(22), 13776; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms232213776 - 9 Nov 2022

Viewed by 2263

Abstract

Depression is a globally widespread disorder caused by a complicated interplay of social, psychological, and biological factors. Approximately 280 million people are suffering from depression worldwide. Traditional frontline antidepressants targeting monoamine neurotransmitters show unsatisfactory effects. The development and application of novel antidepressants for dissimilar targets are on the agenda. This review characterizes the antidepressant effects of multiple endogenous compounds and/or their targets to provide new insight into the working mechanism of antidepressants. We also discuss perspectives and challenges for the generation of novel antidepressants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Compounds with Anxiolytic or Antidepressant Properties)

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