At a time of unprecedented need and despite significant advances in understanding brain function and related diseases,the drug pipeline for treatment of mental ill-health is failing[1,2].The reasons are many,including...At a time of unprecedented need and despite significant advances in understanding brain function and related diseases,the drug pipeline for treatment of mental ill-health is failing[1,2].The reasons are many,including the unparalleled complexity of the central nervous system(CNS)itself,a lack of interdisciplinary research collaborations,increased drug development costs,and higher risk of clinical failure of CNS drugs compared with other areas of drug development[3–6].It is now widely recognized that individual dimensions of mental ill health arise from altered neural processes within specific brain circuits that may be shared across diagnostic categories[7,8].The inclusion of cognitive and social processes is particularly appropriate because cognitive dysfunction is of paramount importance to the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric disorders[9].This issue is further compounded by the lack of adequate medication to reverse cognitive and social deficits.With respect to neurodevelopmental disorders that give rise to early onset of a spectrum of symptoms related to schizophrenia,attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,autism spectrum disorders(ASD)to name but a few,the need to discover effective treatment options is particularly urgent.展开更多
文摘At a time of unprecedented need and despite significant advances in understanding brain function and related diseases,the drug pipeline for treatment of mental ill-health is failing[1,2].The reasons are many,including the unparalleled complexity of the central nervous system(CNS)itself,a lack of interdisciplinary research collaborations,increased drug development costs,and higher risk of clinical failure of CNS drugs compared with other areas of drug development[3–6].It is now widely recognized that individual dimensions of mental ill health arise from altered neural processes within specific brain circuits that may be shared across diagnostic categories[7,8].The inclusion of cognitive and social processes is particularly appropriate because cognitive dysfunction is of paramount importance to the understanding and treatment of many psychiatric disorders[9].This issue is further compounded by the lack of adequate medication to reverse cognitive and social deficits.With respect to neurodevelopmental disorders that give rise to early onset of a spectrum of symptoms related to schizophrenia,attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,autism spectrum disorders(ASD)to name but a few,the need to discover effective treatment options is particularly urgent.