The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs.

ABSTRACT: Major depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders, causing significant human suffering and socioeconomic loss. Since conventional antidepressants are not sufficiently effective, there is an urgent need to develop new antidepressant medications. Despite marked advances in the neurobiology of depression, the etiology and pathophysiology of this disease remain poorly understood. Classical and newer hypotheses of depression suggest that an imbalance of brain monoamines, dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPAA) and immune system, or impaired hippocampal neurogenesis and neurotrophic factors pathways are cause of depression. It is assumed that conventional antidepressants improve these closely related disturbances. The purpose of this review was to discuss the

SUBMITTER: Markov DD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10094937 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature