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Recent Advances in the Research of Mental Disorders
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Recent Advances in the Research of Mental Disorders

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Neurobiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 4770

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yan-Xue Xue

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Institute on Drug Dependence, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: addiction; relapse; PTSD; pathological memory; memory reconsolidation; memory extinction; neural circuits; neural oscillations; neural modulation
Dr. Jianfeng Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Brain Science and Advanced Technology Institute, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China
Interests: mental disorders

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mental disorders are a group of brain disorders characterized by behavioral or psychological patterns that result in significant distress and abnormal functions. Despite the high prevalence of mental disorders, effective treatments for mental disorders remain limited. For example, about one-third of patients with major depressive disorders do not respond to current antidepressants. Furthermore, many people with mental disorders are undertreated due to the stigmatization and misconceptions of the public about mental disorders. These are largely due to the insufficiency of our understanding of the pathology of mental disorders. In the last decades, with the help of newly innovated technologies such as optical recording, optogenetics, and sing-cell sequencing, the neural mechanisms of mental disorders have been uncovered to some extent. This Special Issue plans to give an overview of the most recent advances in the field of mental disorders, their neural mechanisms, and treatments.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  1. The cellular and molecular basis of mental disorders
  2. Epigenetics mechanisms underlying mental disorders
  3. Biomarkers and phenotypes for diagnosing mental disorders
  4. Neural circuits involved in mental disorders and their functions
  5. Pharmacological targets and pharmacotherapeutics for the treatment of mental disorders
  6. Neural modulations and behavioral therapies
  7. Future perspectives for the treatment of mental disorders

Dr. Yanxue Xue
Dr. Jianfeng Liu
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

  • mental disoders
  • neuropathology
  • biomarkers
  • neural circuits
  • pharmacotherapeutics
  • non- pharmacological interventions

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3817 KiB  
Article
Unravelling the Role of Habenula Subnuclei on Avoidance Response: Focus on Activation and Neuroinflammation
by Geiza Fernanda Antunes, Ana Carolina Pinheiro Campos, Daniel de Oliveira Martins, Flavia Venetucci Gouveia, Miguel José Rangel Junior, Rosana Lima Pagano and Raquel Chacon Ruiz Martinez
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(13), 10693; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241310693 - 27 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1136
Abstract
Understanding the mechanisms responsible for anxiety disorders is a major challenge. Avoidance behavior is an essential feature of anxiety disorders. The two-way avoidance test is a preclinical model with two distinct subpopulations—the good and poor performers—based on the number of avoidance responses presented [...] Read more.
Understanding the mechanisms responsible for anxiety disorders is a major challenge. Avoidance behavior is an essential feature of anxiety disorders. The two-way avoidance test is a preclinical model with two distinct subpopulations—the good and poor performers—based on the number of avoidance responses presented during testing. It is believed that the habenula subnuclei could be important for the elaboration of avoidance response with a distinct pattern of activation and neuroinflammation. The present study aimed to shed light on the habenula subnuclei signature in avoidance behavior, evaluating the pattern of neuronal activation using FOS expression and astrocyte density using GFAP immunoreactivity, and comparing control, good and poor performers. Our results showed that good performers had a decrease in FOS immunoreactivity (IR) in the superior part of the medial division of habenula (MHbS) and an increase in the marginal part of the lateral subdivision of lateral habenula (LHbLMg). Poor performers showed an increase in FOS in the basal part of the lateral subdivision of lateral habenula (LHbLB). Considering the astroglial immunoreactivity, the poor performers showed an increase in GFAP-IR in the inferior portion of the medial complex (MHbl), while the good performers showed a decrease in the oval part of the lateral part of the lateral complex (LHbLO) in comparison with the other groups. Taken together, our data suggest that specific subdivisions of the MHb and LHb have different activation patterns and astroglial immunoreactivity in good and poor performers. This study could contribute to understanding the neurobiological mechanisms responsible for anxiety disorders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Research of Mental Disorders)
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14 pages, 3457 KiB  
Article
Inactivation of the Lateral Hypothalamus Attenuates Methamphetamine-Induced Conditioned Place Preference through Regulation of Kcnq3 Expression
by Min Liu, Xu Tan, E Liu, Zhaofang Hang, Ruiheng Song, Shouhong Mu, Weikai Han, Qingwei Yue and Jinhao Sun
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(13), 7305; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23137305 - 30 Jun 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1796
Abstract
Repeated administration of methylamphetamine (MA) induces MA addiction, which is featured by awfully unpleasant physical and emotional experiences after drug use is terminated. Neurophysiological studies show that the lateral hypothalamus (LH) is involved in reward development and addictive behaviors. Here, we show that [...] Read more.
Repeated administration of methylamphetamine (MA) induces MA addiction, which is featured by awfully unpleasant physical and emotional experiences after drug use is terminated. Neurophysiological studies show that the lateral hypothalamus (LH) is involved in reward development and addictive behaviors. Here, we show that repeated administration of MA activates the expression of c-Fos in LH neurons responding to conditioned place preference (CPP). Chemogenetic inhibition of the LH can disrupt the addiction behavior, demonstrating that the LH plays an important role in MA-induced reward processing. Critically, MA remodels the neurons of LH synaptic plasticity, increases intracellular calcium level, and enhances spontaneous current and evoked potentials of neurons compared to the saline group. Furthermore, overexpression of the potassium voltage-gated channel subfamily Q member 3 (Kcnq3) expression can reverse the CPP score and alleviate the occurrence of addictive behaviors. Together, these results unravel a new neurobiological mechanism underlying the MA-induced addiction in the lateral hypothalamus, which could pave the way toward new and effective interventions for this addiction disease. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Research of Mental Disorders)
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Review

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20 pages, 585 KiB  
Review
Neurobiology of Stress-Induced Nicotine Relapse
by Xinyu Wang, Yun Chen, Jing Dong, Jing Ge, Xiaoliu Liu and Jianfeng Liu
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(3), 1482; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25031482 - 25 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1232
Abstract
Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease. Although there are some FAD-approved medicines for controlling smoking, the relapse rate remains very high. Among the factors that could induce nicotine relapse, stress might be the most important one. In the [...] Read more.
Tobacco smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and disease. Although there are some FAD-approved medicines for controlling smoking, the relapse rate remains very high. Among the factors that could induce nicotine relapse, stress might be the most important one. In the last decades, preclinical studies have generated many new findings that lead to a better understanding of stress-induced relapse of nicotine-seeking. Several molecules such as α3β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, α2-adrenergic receptors, cannabinoid receptor 1, trace amine-associated receptor 1, and neuropeptide systems (corticotropin-releasing factor and its receptors, dynorphine and kappa opioid receptor) have been linked to stress-induced nicotine relapse. In this review, we discuss recent advances in the neurobiology, treatment targets, and potential therapeutics of stress-induced nicotine relapse. We also discuss some factors that may influence stress-induced nicotine relapse and that should be considered in future studies. In the final section, a perspective on some research directions is provided. Further investigation on the neurobiology of stress-induced nicotine relapse will shed light on the development of new medicines for controlling smoking and will help us understand the interactions between the stress and reward systems in the brain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in the Research of Mental Disorders)
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