Editorial

Affective disorders can be characterized as a fluctuation of mood and other mental states and functions that is caused mainly by a dysfunction of internal electrochemical oscillators in the brain. Several well documented study results indicate that circadian and infradian rhythms of neurotransmitters and the endocrine system play a crucial role. A dynamic balance between norepinephrenic, cholinergic and serotonergic transmission provides a plausible explanation, but it is not known which component is the dominant one. Still the link to the clinical phenotype remains to be elucidated. Local neuronal circuits in the brain stem that are involved in generating sleep seem to be dysregulated, the circadian profile of TSH and CRF/ACTH/cortisol have perturbances etc. Reduced reactivity of feedback loops caused by the slow on- or offset of components involved in neurotransmission may impair more global circuits leading to the complex symptomatology of depressive and manic states. Systems biology provides a framework primarily structuring the interaction of molecular components including their regulation into modules and networks to describe and analyze neuronal networks.

Additionally, the gap between recordings close to the phenotypic level such as EEG and MRI, reflecting the association of sleep disorders and affective symptoms should be mapped to a molecular dysfunction. And, finally, the pharmacological interference with receptors and ion channels involved in neurotransmission should be used to elucidate the function of hypercoherent and hypocoherent oscillators over different time scales.

This special volume of Pharmacopsychiatry represents the essence of a workshop on “Systems Biology of Affective Disorders” that was the sixth in a series of workshops on “Computational Neuropsychiatry” the aim to integrate clinical psychiatry with experimental neurobiology and computational sciences.

We are very grateful for financial support by Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Bristol-Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Lundbeck, Servier and EssexPharma.

F. Tretter, D. Rujescu, C. Turck, H.W. Mewes
Haar/Munich, Munich, Neuherberg
May 2011

Correspondence