The Introduction of the Special Issue Schizophrenia is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder, with the clinical onset occurring during adolescence or early adulthood in 80% of cases (Lehman et al., 2004). Schizophrenia does not show clear signs of behavioral dysfunction during childhood but, social isolation seems to be frequent during the prodromal period (Weiden et al., 2007). Once the debut of the disease is installed, social cognition and prefrontal neuropsychological functions are severely impaired during the course of the disease.(Dodell-Feder et al., 2015). More than half of the genes linked to Schizophrenia are involved in events that occur in late prenatal and early postnatal period, i.e., neuronal migration and synaptic formation and stabilization (Uribe and Wix, 2010). These facts suggest that the disease begins before adolescence but becomes clinically significant in this period, probably during prefrontal cortex maturation (Woo, 2014). Abnormalities in glutamatergic transmission are strongly associated with brain atrophy, loss of synaptic connectivity and schizophrenic behavioral pattern (Butz, 2009; Uribe and Wix, 2011). N-Methil-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is involved in the neurodevelopmental component of Schizophrenia, and has been demonstrated that its modulation in early neonatal period prevents the most of its behavioral characteristics in adulthood (Uribe, 2016). In this framework, major psychiatric disorders and specifically Schizophrenia cannot be cured after the onset, yet could be effectively prevented modulating the NMDAR during the early developmental period (Millan et al., 2016). Actually, all antipsychotic drugs currently available allow the progression of the disease (Bergh, 2016; Rammes, 2008), which suggests the urgent need to develop new preventive treatment options.
The Research Scope of the Special Issue ·Schizophrenia ·Neurodevelopment ·Neurosciences ·Neuropsychiatry ·NMDAR
The Article Title of the Special Issue 1:Modulation of NMDA receptor in neonatal period could prevent schizophrenia? 2:NMDA receptor and its changes during neurodevelopment 3:Could schizophrenia be prevented? 4:Maduration of prefrontal cortex and NMDA receptor physiology during adolescence 5:Implication of NMDA receptor in synaptic refinement 6:Apoptosis in early neonatal period and schizophrenia 7:The synaptic conection changes throught the neurodevelopment
Submission guidelines All papers should be submitted via the Probe - Biology submission system: http://probe.usp-pl.com/index.php/PB/index Submitted articles should not be published or under review elsewhere. All submissions will be subject to the journal’s standard peer review process. Criteria for acceptance include originality, contribution, scientific merit and relevance to the field of interest of the Special Issue.
Important Dates Paper Submission Due: December , 2019
The Lead Guest Editor Ezequiel Fernando Uribe |
