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Mood Stabilizers: Pharmacology and Biochemistry

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NeuroPsychopharmacotherapy

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Abstract

Drugs successfully applied in the treatment of bipolar disorder have been termed mood stabilizers and include different pharmacological classes: antipsychotic agents, anti-convulsants, and lithium.

Contrary to the development of antipsychotic and antidepressive drugs, no drug has been developed on biological models or hypotheses of bipolar disorder. The most commonly applied drug lithium has been introduced based on findings by serendipity, and no unique pharmacological mechanism of mood stabilization was identified so far. However, several mood stabilizers share a modulation of inositol- and GSK-3β-mediated pathways leading to neuroprotection and increased neuronal plasticity.

Future hypothesis-driven drug development is presently limited since (I) bipolar disorder results from a large spectrum of molecular mechanisms also associated and shared with other psychiatric morbidities and (II) animal models allow to address only neurobiological aspects well conserved across species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zentrum für Psychische Gesundheit, Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Leif Hommers

Authors
  1. Leif Hommers
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Correspondence to Leif Hommers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Peter Riederer

  2. Institute of Psychological Medicine (IPM), Soyen, Germany

    Gerd Laux

  3. Centre for Research Promotion and Support, Fujita Health University, Toyoake, Aichi, Japan

    Toshiharu Nagatsu

  4. Center Translational Res Neurol Diseases, Dalian Med Uni Shanghai Inst Health Sc Center Translational Res Neurol Diseases, Dalian, China

    Weidong Le

  5. Würzburg, Germany

    Christian Riederer

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany

    Andreas Menke

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Hommers, L. (2022). Mood Stabilizers: Pharmacology and Biochemistry. In: Riederer, P., Laux, G., Nagatsu, T., Le, W., Riederer, C. (eds) NeuroPsychopharmacotherapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62059-2_37

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62059-2_37

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-62058-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-62059-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineReference Module Medicine

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