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Pharmaceuticals
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Antidepressant Drug
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Antidepressant Drug

A special issue of Pharmaceuticals (ISSN 1424-8247). This special issue belongs to the section "Pharmacology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2025) | Viewed by 7721

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Paulina Misztak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, 20900 Monza, Italy
Interests: depression; animal models of depression; epigenetic; neurobiology; molecular mechanism of drugs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Depression disorder is a common heterogeneous mental disorder that affects all aspects of life of  patients as well as people around them. Depression affects 3.8% of the population, including children and the elderly. Moreover, 10-30% of treated patients remain significantly symptomatic and resistant to conventional treatments, despite receiving antidepressant treatment and switching from first-line antidepressant drugs to phase 2 trials [1]. 

The treatment of depression raises difficulties not only for clinicians but also patients. Antidepressants (Ads) mostly work by increasing extrasynaptic monoamine levels in the brain, which leads to many side effects on the peripheral nervous system. Moreover, ADs have a delayed onset of action even after weeks of treatment.  Therefore, new rapid-action antidepressants, among them ketamine and NMDA antagonists, are being intensively studied. Nowadays, antidepressant drugs are divided into five classes: SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs and atypical antidepressants with unique mechanisms of action. Furthermore, natural antidepressants such as omega-3-fatty acids or exercise, which can supplement antidepressant therapy, are gaining traction [2]. Therefore, the development of new drugs and methods for depression treatment is critical.

In this Special Issue, we aim to present well-known and new therapeutic agents and strategy for depression treatment. We will be focusing on traditional treatments and novel antidepressant molecules, such as peptides or cannabinoids, as well nutrition supplementation, which can be important for MDD treatment. In this Special Issue, we want to expand the knowledge on antidepressant drugs and their mechanism of action.

  1. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/depression
  2. Rantamäki T, Yalcin I. Antidepressant drug action--From rapid changes on network function to network rewiring. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2016 Jan 4;64:285-92. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2015.06.001. Epub 2015 Jun 9. PMID: 26066070.

Dr. Paulina Misztak
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Pharmaceuticals 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 2900 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

  • antidepressant
  • molecular mechanism of drugs
  • new targets for depression treatment
  • depression
  • MDD
  • animal models of depression
  • nutrition in depression
  • small molecules

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 242 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Risk of QT Prolongation in a Psychiatric Inpatient Cohort: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
by Johan Frederik Mebus Meyer Christensen, Jonathan Hugo Jürgens-Lahnstein, Afrim Iljazi, Stig Ejdrup Andersen, Morten Dahl and Gesche Jürgens
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(10), 1373; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17101373 - 16 Oct 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2078
Abstract
Background: QT prolongation is a potential serious adverse drug reaction, and assessing the risk of QT-prolonging drugs is routinely included in psychotropic medication reviews. However, the actual clinical benefits of such assessments are unknown. We investigate whether QT prolongation (QTc value > 480 [...] Read more.
Background: QT prolongation is a potential serious adverse drug reaction, and assessing the risk of QT-prolonging drugs is routinely included in psychotropic medication reviews. However, the actual clinical benefits of such assessments are unknown. We investigate whether QT prolongation (QTc value > 480 ms) manifests in psychiatric inpatients at risk of QT prolongation as identified by assessing drug regimens. Secondly, we test the predictive value of well-known risk factors for QT prolongation. Results: The median patient age was 49 years (IQR 34–64) for patients treated with a median of nine drugs (IQR 6–12) and a median QT-prolonging drug sum of three daily defined dosages (IQR 1.88–4.76). We extracted 290 ECGs for patients where pharmacist-led-medication reviews (PMRs) identified an increased risk of QT prolongation and 190 ECGs for patients with no such risk, identifying 33 cases of verified QT prolongation equally distributed between groups. Unadjusted regression analysis revealed that advanced age (OR 3.27 CI 95% 1.60–6.84) and cardiovascular comorbidity (OR 3.53 CI 95% 1.71–7.29) were associated with manifest QT prolongation, while the QT-prolonging drug load was not. Methods: We reviewed electronic health records (EHRs) of 799 psychiatric inpatients exposed to PMRs made from 1 September 2016 to 31 December 2018 in Region Zealand Denmark. Conclusions: Patients at risk of QT prolongation as identified by drug reviews rarely manifests with actual QT prolongation. Non-pharmacological risk factors seem to be better predictors for identifying patients with QT prolongation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antidepressant Drug)
16 pages, 3675 KiB  
Article
Repeated Sulforaphane Treatment Reverses Depressive-like Behavior and Exerts Antioxidant Effects in the Olfactory Bulbectomy Model in Mice
by Patrycja Pańczyszyn-Trzewik, Katarzyna Stachowicz, Paulina Misztak, Gabriel Nowak and Magdalena Sowa-Kućma
Pharmaceuticals 2024, 17(6), 762; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph17060762 - 11 Jun 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1749
Abstract
Growing evidence suggests that activators of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 (Nrf2), such as sulforaphane, may represent promising novel pharmacological targets for conditions related to oxidative stress, including depressive disorder. Therefore, we conducted a study to explore the behavioral and biochemical effects of [...] Read more.
Growing evidence suggests that activators of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 (Nrf2), such as sulforaphane, may represent promising novel pharmacological targets for conditions related to oxidative stress, including depressive disorder. Therefore, we conducted a study to explore the behavioral and biochemical effects of repeated (14 days) sulforaphane (SFN) treatment in the olfactory bulbectomy (OB) animal model of depression. An open field test (OFT), splash test (ST), and spontaneous locomotor activity test (LA) were used to assess changes in depressive-like behavior and the potential antidepressant-like activity of SFN. The OB model induced hyperactivity in mice during the OFT and LA as well as a temporary loss of self-care and motivation in the ST. The repeated administration of SFN (10 mg/kg) effectively reversed these behavioral changes in OB mice across all tests. Additionally, a biochemical analysis revealed that SFN (10 mg/kg) increased the total antioxidant capacity in the frontal cortex and serum of the OB model. Furthermore, SFN (10 mg/kg) significantly enhanced superoxide dismutase activity in the serum of OB mice. Overall, the present study is the first to demonstrate the antidepressant-like effects of repeated SFN (10 mg/kg) treatment in the OB model and indicates that these benefits may be linked to improved oxidative status. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antidepressant Drug)
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18 pages, 2889 KiB  
Article
Anxiolytic-like Effects by trans-Ferulic Acid Possibly Occur through GABAergic Interaction Pathways
by Md. Shimul Bhuia, Md. Rokonuzzman, Md. Imran Hossain, Siddique Akber Ansari, Irfan Aamer Ansari, Tawhida Islam, Md. Sakib Al Hasan, Mohammad S. Mubarak and Muhammad Torequl Islam
Pharmaceuticals 2023, 16(9), 1271; https://doi.org/10.3390/ph16091271 - 7 Sep 2023
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 3215
Abstract
Numerous previous studies reported that ferulic acid exerts anxiolytic activity. However, the mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. The current study aimed to investigate the anxiolytic effect of trans-ferulic acid (TFA), a stereoisomer of ferulic acid, and evaluated its underlying mechanism using [...] Read more.
Numerous previous studies reported that ferulic acid exerts anxiolytic activity. However, the mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. The current study aimed to investigate the anxiolytic effect of trans-ferulic acid (TFA), a stereoisomer of ferulic acid, and evaluated its underlying mechanism using in vivo and computational studies. For this, different experimental doses of TFA (25, 50, and 75 mg/kg) were administered orally to Swiss albino mice, and various behavioral methods of open field, hole board, swing box, and light–dark tests were carried out. Diazepam (DZP), a positive allosteric modulator of the GABAA receptor, was employed as a positive control at a dose of 2 mg/kg, and distilled water served as a vehicle. Additionally, molecular docking was performed to estimate the binding affinities of the TFA and DZP toward the GABAA receptor subunits of α2 and α3, which are associated with the anxiolytic effect; visualizations of the ligand-receptor interaction were carried out using various computational tools. Our findings indicate that TFA dose-dependently reduces the locomotor activity of the animals in comparison with the controls, calming their behaviors. In addition, TFA exerted the highest binding affinity (−5.8 kcal/mol) to the α2 subunit of the GABAA receptor by forming several hydrogen and hydrophobic bonds. Taken together, our findings suggest that TFA exerts a similar effect to DZP, and the compound exerts moderate anxiolytic activity through the GABAergic interaction pathway. We suggest further clinical studies to develop TFA as a reliable anxiolytic agent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Antidepressant Drug)
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