Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Psychiatric Disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders and autism, are incurable diseases that highly impact the life of affected subjects and their relatives. They have a relatively high prevalence and are characterized by disabling symptoms including reduced cognitive, social and emotional functions. Over the next few decades, neurobiologists, through the generation of new animal models as well as development of new genomic technologies, are making progress in discovering the genetic risk factors and the molecular, cellular, and synaptic mechanisms underlying these pathologies, but the mechanisms of pathogenesis remain poorly understood. Although different psychotherapeutic drugs are available, all the treatments are only aimed at relieving symptoms and associated co-morbidities. Thus, it is imperative to define the biology of these diseases and to dissect the specific cell types, circuits and intracellular pathways involved. Furthermore, considering that the majority of neuropsychiatric diseases have a genetic component, studies aimed to discover disease-causing mutations are needed to correlate gene variants to particular phenotypes. Results from these studies will be essential to discover new drug targets or therapeutic mechanisms that can pave the way to the development of new and promising pharmacological and genetic therapies.

In this Research Topic we will collect the newest findings about the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders, new genetic and pharmacological approaches for psychiatric disorders, and experimental tools aimed to improve the understanding or the treatment of psychiatric disorders.