Molecular Neurobiology and Behavioral Mechanisms in Psychiatric Disorders
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Behavioral Neuroscience".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 September 2026 | Viewed by 4290
Special Issue Editors
Interests: neuropsychiatric disorders; autism spectrum disorders; sleep disorders; zebrafish; learning and memory; Alzheimer’s disease; therapeutics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Psychiatric disorders arise from complex interactions among molecular, cellular, circuit-level, and environmental processes that shape brain function and behavior. Despite the fact that significant advances have been made in neuroscience, the biological mechanisms underlying mental illness remain incompletely understood, limiting progress in diagnosis and targeted treatment. Integrating molecular neurobiology with systems-level and behavioral approaches is therefore critical for advancing both mechanistic insight and clinical translation.
Recent work has revealed the key roles that neurochemical signaling, neuromodulatory systems, and neuroimmune interactions play in regulating emotion, cognition, stress, motivation, and social behavior. Dysregulation of these processes is increasingly being linked to a broad range of psychiatric conditions, including mood and anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, addiction, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Converging evidence further suggests that alterations in neural circuit function and plasticity represent shared features across diagnostic categories.
Technological advances—including multi-omics, high-resolution neuroimaging, large-scale electrophysiology, and computational modeling—now enable the interrogation of molecular and circuit dynamics across multiple scales. These approaches, combined with refined animal models and translational human studies, are strengthening links between molecular mechanisms, circuit dysfunction, and behavioral outcomes. At the same time, growing interest in therapeutic targeting of molecular pathways, neuromodulatory interventions, and biomarker development highlights the need for a deeper mechanistic framework.
This Special Issue aims to collate interdisciplinary research addressing molecular neurobiology and the behavioral mechanisms underlying psychiatric disorders. We welcome the submission of original research articles, reviews, and perspectives spanning basic, translational, and clinical neuroscience, including studies of neurochemical and neuroimmune mechanisms, emotion and cognition, stress and addiction, neural circuit alterations and translational models, multi-omics and neuroimaging approaches, and emerging therapeutic and neuromodulatory strategies.
Dr. Chanpreet Singh
Guest Editor
Dr. Jin Xu
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
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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. Brain Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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
- molecular neurobiology
- psychiatric disorders
- neuromodulation
- neural circuits
- behavior and cognition
- neurochemical signaling
- neuroimmune interactions
- stress and addiction
- translational neuroscience
- multi-omics and neuroimaging
- biomarkers and therapeutics
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