title: Monoaminergic and Histaminergic Strategies and Treatments in Brain Diseases.
abstract: The monoaminergic systems are the target of several drugs for the treatment of mood, motor and cognitive disorders as well as neurological conditions. In most cases, advances have occurred through serendipity, except for Parkinson's disease where the pathophysiology led almost immediately to the introduction of dopamine restoring agents. Extensive neuropharmacological studies first showed that the primary target of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytic drugs were specific components of the monoaminergic systems. Later, some dramatic side effects associated with older medicines were shown to disappear with new chemical compounds targeting the origin of the therapeutic benefit more specifically. The increased knowledge regarding the function and interaction of the monoaminergic systems in the brain resulting fromin vivoneurochemical and neurophysiological studies indicated new monoaminergic targets that could achieve the efficacy of the older medicines with fewer side-effects. Yet, this accumulated knowledge regarding monoamines did not produce valuable strategies for diseases where no monoaminergic drug has been shown to be effective. Here, we emphasize the new therapeutic and monoaminergic-based strategies for the treatment of psychiatric diseases. We will consider three main groups of diseases, based on the evidence of monoamines involvement (schizophrenia, depression, obesity), the identification of monoamines in the diseases processes (Parkinson's disease, addiction) and the prospect of the involvement of monoaminergic mechanisms (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, stroke). In most cases, the clinically available monoaminergic drugs induce widespread modifications of amine tone or excitability through neurobiological networks and exemplify the overlap between therapeutic approaches to psychiatric and neurological conditions. More recent developments that have resulted in improved drug specificity and responses will be discussed in this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, University of Malta Msida, Malta.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Di Giovanni
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Dubravka
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Svob Strac
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Medicina, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Montse
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sole
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Medicina, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Unzeta
authors.affiliation: School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin Dublin, Ireland.
authors.forename: Keith F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Tipton
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Dorotea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mück-Šeler
authors.affiliation: Departament de Bioquímica i Biologia Molecular, Facultat de Medicina, Institut de Neurociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bolea
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Florence Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Della Corte
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Matea
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nikolac Perkovic
authors.affiliation: Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: Nela
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pivac
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Drug Analysis, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Brussels, Belgium.
authors.forename: Ilse J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Smolders
authors.affiliation: Department of Hormone Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stasiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Hormone Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz Lodz, Poland.
authors.forename: Wieslawa A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Fogel
authors.affiliation: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Unité Mixte de Recherche 5293), Institut of Neurodegenerative Diseases Bordeaux Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: De Deurwaerdère
keywords: antidepressant; antiparkinsonian treatments; antipsychotic; drug addiction; monoamine oxidase inhibitor; multi-target pharmacology; neurodegenerative diseases; stroke