Molecular Psychiatry and Antipsychotics

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular and Translational Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 771

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Medical School, Institute of Physiology, University of Pécs, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
Interests: oxytocin; autism; valproate; amygdala; anxiety; rat; elevated plus maze
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Psychiatric diseases place a significant burden on the healthcare system. Schizophrenia is a widespread and devastating psychiatric disorder, affecting approximately one percent of the global population. Antipsychotic drugs primarily exert their effects via D2 dopamine receptors; however, it has been shown that many other neurotransmitter systems are involved in schizophrenia, including serotonergic, cholinergic, noradrenergic, oxytocinergic, and neurotensin systems. While antipsychotics mainly relieve the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, they have also been demonstrated to be effective in treating negative and cognitive symptoms. Nonetheless, the exact molecular mechanisms by which antipsychotics exert their effects are not fully understood. Understanding the underlying mechanisms of schizophrenia symptoms is crucial for the development of more effective therapies.

Dr. László Péczely
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • psychiatric diseases
  • schizophrenia
  • antipsychotics
  • molecular psychiatry
  • molecular pathways
  • neurotransmitter systems
  • positive, negative and cognitive symptoms

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 8154 KB  
Article
Sex-Specific Electrocortical Interactions in a Color Recognition Task in Men and Women with Opioid Use Disorder
by Jo Ann Petrie, Abhishek Trikha, Hope L. Lundberg, Kyle B. Bills, Preston K. Manwaring, J. Daniel Obray, Daniel N. Adams, Bruce L. Brown, Donovan E. Fleming and Scott C. Steffensen
Biomedicines 2025, 13(12), 3002; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13123002 - 8 Dec 2025
Viewed by 480
Abstract
Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) and associated overdose deaths have reached epidemic proportions worldwide over the past two decades, with death rates for men consistently reported at twice the rate for women. We have recently reported sex-specific differences in electrocortical activity in [...] Read more.
Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) and associated overdose deaths have reached epidemic proportions worldwide over the past two decades, with death rates for men consistently reported at twice the rate for women. We have recently reported sex-specific differences in electrocortical activity in persons with OUD in a visual object recognition task. The mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system is implicated in OUD but also plays a critical role in some disorders of visual attention and a modulatory role in the processing of visual stimuli in the blue cone pathway of the retina. We hypothesized that electrocortical responses to color stimuli would be affected differentially in men and women with OUD. Methods: Using a controlled, cross-sectional, age-matched (18–56 years) design, we evaluated color processing in male and female subjects recruited from a community-based, high-intensity residential substance abuse and detoxification treatment program. We evaluated electroencephalogram (EEG) event-related potentials (ERPs) and reaction time (RT), in male and female participants with OUD (n = 38) vs. sex- and age-matched non-OUD control participants (n = 37) in a simple color recognition Go/No-Go task, as well as perceptual and behavioral responses in physiological and neuropsychological tests. Results: N200, P300, and late potential (LP) Relevant stimulus-induced ERPs were evoked by the task and were well-differentiated from Irrelevant distractor stimuli. P300 amplitudes were significantly greater and N200 and LP latencies were significantly shorter in male vs. female non-OUD controls in this task. There were significant sex differences in N200, P300, and LP amplitudes and latencies between male vs. female non-OUD subjects and OUD differences with blue color as the Relevant stimulus. In the Binocular Rivalry Test, there were shorter dwell times for perceiving a blue stimulus in male OUD subjects and there were significant sex and OUD differences in neuropsychological tests including Finger Tapping, Trails A/B, and Symbol Digit Modalities Test. Conclusions: These findings suggest that there are significant sex-related physiological, perceptual, and cognitive differences in color processing that may result from deficits in DA production in the retina that mirror deficits in mesolimbic DA transmission correlating with OUD, suggesting that blue color processing has the potential to be an effective biomarker for brain DA and for diagnosis and monitoring of treatment efficacy in substance use disorders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Psychiatry and Antipsychotics)
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