Psychopharmacology

Psychopharmacology and Neuropharmacology are two rapidly developing branches of pharmacology. Psychopharmacology focuses on the actions and effects of psychoactive drugs that have potential or effective therapy for mental health disorders. Neuropharmacology is the study of how drugs affect nervous system functions from molecular, cellular, synaptic, network and behavioral levels; in turn treating a variety of neurological diseases. Both of these branches are closely associated since they are concerned with the interactions with neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, neuromodulators, enzymes, receptor proteins, second messengers, co-transporters and ion channels in the central and peripheral nervous systems. By studying the interactions of drugs with these targets, scientists are developing numerous new drugs to treat many different neurological diseases. These include pain, psychological disorders, addiction, epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, and many others. In the neuron pharmacological field, it is very important to identify new targets and reveal new pharmacological mechanisms of drugs for treatment of various neurological disorders including drug addiction, epilepsy and neurodegeneration diseases. Dr. Yang et al. reported their new findings that a smoking relevant level of nicotine significantly modulated postsynaptic GABAA receptor function in dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), an important brain reward center.

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Last date updated on September, 2024