Towards a Better Understanding of Neuroinflammation in Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

Neuroinflammation is a complex and evolving concept central to understanding various neurological and psychiatric disorders. Infection and injury within the brain are major triggers of neuroinflammation. In this context, the activation of microglia and astrocytes that leads to the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction seen in neuroinflammation normally takes several different complicated mechanisms and pathways. Some of the most commonly seen are cytokine cascades and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation. These cytokines are responsible for promoting an increase in the number of neutrophils and their migration to sites of inflammation. Likewise, some inflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α and IL-6, inhibit the production of lymphocytes, contributing to the decrease in circulating lymphocytes. This led to the development of different blood-count ratios, such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), the monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), lymphocyte subpopulations ratios, and others. They have been developed to be readily available and easily obtainable and cost-effective and could be used as accurate biomarkers of systemic inflammation and indicators of the severity of BD. Research in several neuropsychiatric diseases, such as bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia spectrum disorder, has detected potential implications of neuroinflammation for the pathogenesis of these illnesses. Similarly, therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating microglial activation states are being investigated to mitigate their neurotoxic effects. Targeting reactive microglia via the enhancement of microglial phagocytosis while reducing microglial-mediated neuroinflammation could be taken as a promising therapeutic strategy.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to examine the impact of neuroinflammation in mental disorders from a bio-psycho-social perspective. We welcome original cross-sectional studies, longitudinal and experimental studies, literature reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses that are in line with our aims, and we will accept papers from the medical, clinical, and biological sciences. We expect papers that use different study designs, methodological approaches, and populations; we aim to fill current knowledge gaps in the study of neuroinflammation and mental health. Further, we hope that this Special Issue will help in identifying potential interventional/treatment targets to address this issue.

Topics may include issues such as

• Discussing the mechanism of association between neuroinflammation and mental disorders, specially major depression, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and other health problems.
• Investigating the role of peripheral inflammatory indices based on blood counts, lymphocyte subpopulations, and other inflammatory biomarkers in the understanding of the origin, diagnosis, outcomes, and predictive model evaluations in mental disorders.
• Highlighting the short- and long-term consequences of inflammation in severe mental disorders, especially the possible impact on treatment response and side effects.

Dr. Jesus Cobo
Guest Editor

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• neuroinflammation
• biomarkers
• peripheral biomarkers
• outcomes
• bipolar disorders
• major depression
• mental health
• schizophrenia
• blood-based inflammatory index
• lymphocyte subpopulation