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

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 neurobiolog...

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Autores principales: Markov, Dmitrii D., Dolotov, Oleg V., Grivennikov, Igor A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10094937/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37047638
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076664
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author Markov, Dmitrii D.
Dolotov, Oleg V.
Grivennikov, Igor A.
author_facet Markov, Dmitrii D.
Dolotov, Oleg V.
Grivennikov, Igor A.
author_sort Markov, Dmitrii D.
collection PubMed
description 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 possibility of affecting these disturbances by targeting the melanocortin system, which includes adrenocorticotropic hormone-activated receptors and their peptide ligands (melanocortins). The melanocortin system is involved in the regulation of various processes in the brain and periphery. Melanocortins, including peripherally administered non-corticotropic agonists, regulate HPAA activity, exhibit anti-inflammatory effects, stimulate the levels of neurotrophic factors, and enhance hippocampal neurogenesis and neurotransmission. Therefore, endogenous melanocortins and their analogs are able to complexly affect the functioning of those body’s systems that are closely related to depression and the effects of antidepressants, thereby demonstrating a promising antidepressant potential.
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spelling pubmed-100949372023-04-13 The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs Markov, Dmitrii D. Dolotov, Oleg V. Grivennikov, Igor A. Int J Mol Sci Review 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 possibility of affecting these disturbances by targeting the melanocortin system, which includes adrenocorticotropic hormone-activated receptors and their peptide ligands (melanocortins). The melanocortin system is involved in the regulation of various processes in the brain and periphery. Melanocortins, including peripherally administered non-corticotropic agonists, regulate HPAA activity, exhibit anti-inflammatory effects, stimulate the levels of neurotrophic factors, and enhance hippocampal neurogenesis and neurotransmission. Therefore, endogenous melanocortins and their analogs are able to complexly affect the functioning of those body’s systems that are closely related to depression and the effects of antidepressants, thereby demonstrating a promising antidepressant potential. MDPI 2023-04-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10094937/ /pubmed/37047638 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076664 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Markov, Dmitrii D.
Dolotov, Oleg V.
Grivennikov, Igor A.
The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title_full The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title_fullStr The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title_full_unstemmed The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title_short The Melanocortin System: A Promising Target for the Development of New Antidepressant Drugs
title_sort melanocortin system: a promising target for the development of new antidepressant drugs
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10094937/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37047638
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms24076664
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