About this Research Topic
Neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, extrapyramidal disorders, Alzheimer's disease and other unrelated dementias, represent a serious human, medical and socioeconomic burden. These diseases are often accompanied by impairments of cognitive function, e.g., thinking, decision-making, and learning and memory. Such deficits significantly worsen quality of life and daily functioning of afflicted patients. Cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and other psychiatric diseases are associated with alterations of brain morphology and function, which are often resistant to therapeutic interventions.
In schizophrenia and related disorders, cognitive deficits are also defined as endophenotypes, measurable phenotypes linking these complex disorders with discrete heritable and reproducible traits. This points to the importance of elucidating these endophenotypes in translational studies. Experimental animal models may not mimic the full spectrum of clinical symptoms, but may work as analogies of particular behaviors or other disease manifestations. They are useful to search for the etiology of particular psychiatric illnesses and novel therapeutics. Moreover, there is accumulated evidence showing (sometimes highly specific) deficits in cognition in these animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, there are a series of sensitive tests to measure cognitive performance in rodents and other species.
The primary focus of the present topic is to provide up-to-date information on cognitive deficits of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, and delineate future directions for translational studies aimed at developing novel treatments/interventions of these disturbances, both at clinical and preclinical levels.
In schizophrenia and related disorders, cognitive deficits are also defined as endophenotypes, measurable phenotypes linking these complex disorders with discrete heritable and reproducible traits. This points to the importance of elucidating these endophenotypes in translational studies. Experimental animal models may not mimic the full spectrum of clinical symptoms, but may work as analogies of particular behaviors or other disease manifestations. They are useful to search for the etiology of particular psychiatric illnesses and novel therapeutics. Moreover, there is accumulated evidence showing (sometimes highly specific) deficits in cognition in these animal models of neuropsychiatric disorders. Moreover, there are a series of sensitive tests to measure cognitive performance in rodents and other species.
The primary focus of the present topic is to provide up-to-date information on cognitive deficits of central nervous system (CNS) disorders, and delineate future directions for translational studies aimed at developing novel treatments/interventions of these disturbances, both at clinical and preclinical levels.
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