Subscribe to RSS
The 27th Symposium of AGNP covers impressive findings regarding genetics, epigenetics, neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology and neurophysiology of psychiatric disorders and their pharmacological therapy. These novel insights may direct psychopharmacological and neuropsychiatric research and therapy to a more effective application of the available medications, to novel drug targets, to a more individualized psychopharmacology and to a deeper understanding of the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders.
We would like to highlight some important methods and objects of research which will be presented at the 27th Symposium of AGNP.
Imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) belong to the most successful research tools developed in this field during the last decades. PET, for example, can meanwhile be used to investigate the cholinergic, the dopaminergic and the serotonergic system. Additionally, new MRI techniques are available such as resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and manganese enhanced MRI (MEMRI). The spatial resolution of the PET-, SPECT-, and MRI-derived images is indeed excellent. However, the more direct and change sensitive insights into neuronal brain functions are provided by electroencephalography (EEG) which allows studying “the melody of brain cortex”. New bioinformatic tools such as EEG source analysis, e.g. low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA), improve the spatial resolution of the EEG and the link to other brain imaging methods.
During the last decade, microglia and astrocytes are more and more entering the focus of psychiatric neuroscience. The astroglial Ca2+-binding protein S100B, the DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) in astrocytes and the astrocytic protein glutamate transporter 1 (GLT-1) are examples of astrocytic structures which may guide psychopharmacological research to a deeper understanding of mental disorders and their therapy.
Although monoaminergic receptors are still of psychiatric interest and provide essential drug targets for current psychopharmacotherapy, other receptors like glucocorticoid receptors, cannabinoid receptors, glutamatergic receptors and the P2RX7-encoded receptor which is involved in Ca2+ dependent signal pathways and may regulate immune function and neurotransmitter release are gaining scientific interest. Accordingly, the focus of genetic research widens from monoamine receptor genes to genes that affect the metabolism of neurotransmitters, the signal transduction in cells and on cell surfaces, the cell growth and differentiation, the organelles and axonal function of neurons and the circadian rhythm. Furthermore, epigenetic phenomena have been examined in psychiatric patients. In general, the methylation of the DNA cytidine base as well as the histon methylation and acetylation are among the most important epigenetic modifications.
Despite novel results in basic science, the 27th Symposium of AGNP also offers a broad range of latest therapeutically relevant data, for example regarding the combination of psychotherapy and psychopharmacotherapy and the application and benefit of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). We thank all authors for submitting their abstracts and all speakers in the framework of the symposia for helping us to shape this scientifically excellent and interesting program.
Ulrich Hegerl, Leipzig
Hubertus Himmerich, Leipzig
Rainer Rupprecht, Regensburg