Frontiers in Pharmacology
August 19, 2026
İlay Buran Kavuran, Ebru Önalan, Zeliha İrem Türk et al.
Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with multiple pathophysiological mechanisms, including dysregulation of monoaminergic systems, excessive glutamatergic activity, reduced neurotrophic support, inflammation, and oxidative stress. The combination of dextromethorphan, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist and sigma-1 receptor agonist, with bupropion, a...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
July 8, 2026
Ruoyi Ji, Xinyuan Shi, X Q Liu et al.
Background: Postoperative depressive symptoms may impair recovery and quality of life in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery. Esketamine has shown potential antidepressant and analgesic effects in the perioperative setting. This meta-analysis evaluated the efficacy and safety of perioperative esketamine for postoperative depressive symptoms in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery....
Frontiers in Pharmacology
June 3, 2026
Burton J. Tabaac, Robin Carhart-Harris, Teresa Yung
Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in prolonged post-concussive syndrome and chronic hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) sequelae remains therapeutically challenging with the persistence of significant neurological and cognitive impairments. While conventional treatments often provide limited relief, emerging research explores alternative therapeutic interventions, including...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
May 26, 2026
Michal Ordak
The rapid evolution of the novel psychoactive substances market has blurred the boundaries between synthetic “designer drugs” and other emerging psychoactive products distributed outside traditional regulatory frameworks. Recently, increasing recreational and self-therapeutic interest in Amanita muscaria has led to its growing presence within the broader landscape of substances used in patterns...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
March 16, 2026
Alessandra Linardi, Ariadiny Lima Caetano, Rodrigo Portes Ureshino
psychiatric disorders, beta-carbolines, trace amine, phosphoproteomics, social hierarchy. Scientific interest in psychedelic substances has re-emerged, offering new perspectives on the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders.Historically, psychedelics have been associated with a wide spectrum of positive and negative effects, encompassing ritualistic and spiritual use,...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
March 11, 2026
Katrin Brache, Mauricio Diazgranados
Neuropsychiatric disorders affect nearly one billion people worldwide, yet many existing psychopharmacological treatments are limited by adverse effects, drug interactions, and variable efficacy. Ethnopharmacological knowledge embedded in Indigenous health systems offers important perspectives for understanding mental and neurological distress and for informing future research on central...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
March 4, 2026
Mi Zhou, Y M Qi, Fan Zhou et al.
Objective To evaluate outcomes of different doses of esketamine in postoperative patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) combined with preoperative intercostal nerve block (ICNB) analgesia protocol for acute postoperative pain (APP) relief in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy. Materials and methods A total of 360 patients scheduled for thoracoscopic lobectomy at Xuzhou Central...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Joseph Geraci, Erik Viirre, Bessi Qorri et al.
Classical serotonergic psychedelics (e.g., LSD, psilocybin, DMT) alter perception and neuroplasticity primarily via 5-HT2A receptor activation and downstream Ca2+-dependent signaling cascades. Here we propose a speculative yet falsifiable pharmacological hypothesis that these drug-induced biochemical cascades might interface with quantum-mechanical processes in the brain. We focus on nuclear...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Michaela Krivosova, Matteo Marcatili, Gessica Guerrera et al.
Esketamine, the S-enantiomer of ketamine, is a rapid-acting antidepressant approved for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) when used in combination with an oral antidepressant. Identifying reliable clinical or genetic predictors of treatment response remains a critical unmet need. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of selected clinical and genetic variables on esketamine response in a...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Yang Qu, Shujin Li, Li Tian et al.
This study systematically evaluated the safety profile of esketamine for treatment-resistant depression through a meta-analysis, focusing on dose-dependent adverse events and associated risk factors to inform precision dosing. PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, the Mainland China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Wanfang databases...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Patricio Sáez-briones, Amanda Silva-Rodríguez, Michelle Morales-Vidal et al.
In humans, empathy is expressed through various prosocial behaviours between individuals that may be enhanced after intake of the synthetic entactogen MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, "Ecstasy") as the behavioural expression of the so-called entactogenic syndrome. Rodents may also exhibit empathy-like behaviours, such as social interaction and helping behaviour. In this regard, while...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Michael B. Gatch, Shuping Jia, Ritu A. Shetty et al.
N-Cyclohexyl butylone and N-cyclohexyl methylone are cathinones found on the street that produce morbidity and mortality, but are not yet legally controlled, and there has been little or no pharmacological testing of these compounds. Both compounds have a large moiety on the N-position that may alter their pharmacological effects. Locomotor stimulant effects of N-cyclohexyl butylone and...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
December 4, 2025
Maya Nicolas
This article proposes that ibogaine’s induction of GDNF, modulation of glutamate and dopamine signaling, and reopening of plasticity represent a unified mechanism capable of restoring reward system fidelity across disorders. This includes addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, amongst others. These conditions are labelled as...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
December 1, 2025
Tiejia Jiang, Rui Zhao
As a therapy for postoperative analgesia, esketamine shows relatively favorable efficacy in pain control and is associated with a lower risk of postpartum depression. However, this result is unstable. Furthermore, esketamine may increase the risk of dizziness in pregnant women aged over 30 years. Since all the experiments in this study are conducted in China, there are certain regional...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
November 20, 2025
Karolina E. Kolaczynska, Daniel Trachsel, Marius C. Hoener et al.
1 citation
Background 4-substituted 2,6-dimethoxyphenethylamines and the corresponding amphetamines (so-called pseudo [Ψ] derivatives) are a hitherto mostly unexplored group of psychedelics. Still, preliminary investigations indicate that these derivatives are promising and potent psychedelics in humans. In this study, we examined the monoamine receptor and transporter interaction properties of several...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
November 19, 2025
Yan Du, Qing Ma, Xingcui Gao et al.
Introduction Metabolic and gut microbiota (GM) disturbance play a significant role in the complex pathogenesis of substance dependence. Although levo-tetrahydropalmatine (l-THP) demonstrates therapeutic potential in drug addiction, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Methods The efficacy of l-THP was assessed using a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. In this research, we...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
September 17, 2025
Xiao Wang, Lijuan Yan, Jiaying Cai et al.
1 citation
This trial aims to provide Level I evidence comparing the respiratory depression risk between esketamine-based and fentanyl-based analgesia during HHNB-guided liver ablation. Should esketamine prove to be demonstrably superior in terms of respiratory safety, HHNB-esketamine has the potential to be a viable treatment option.
Frontiers in Pharmacology
July 7, 2025
Zhejun Xie, Ning Cao, Manlin Li et al.
2 citations
Background: The discovery of new neurotransmitters is crucial for the in-depth understanding of neural signal transmission, neurological disorders, and relevant treatment strategies. Emerging evidence has indicated that harmine is an important endogenous compound, and its level is closely related to different physiological and disease states. Inspired by this, we propose a hypothesis that...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Agnieszka Zelek-Molik, Ewa Litwa
19 citations
Mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, are among the most common mental illnesses and a leading cause of disability worldwide. Key symptoms of these conditions include a depressed mood or anhedonia, sleep and psychomotor disturbances, changes in appetite or weight, and fatigue or loss of energy. Prolonged cognitive disturbances further impair the ability to...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Jing Wang, Yulei Hao, Di Ma et al.
14 citations
The recreational abuse of addictive drugs poses considerable challenges to public health, leading to widespread neurotoxicity and neurological dysfunction. This review comprehensively examines the neurotoxic mechanisms, clinical manifestations, and treatment strategies associated with six commonly abused substances: methamphetamine, cocaine, synthetic cathinones, ketamine, nitrous oxide and...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Georgina de la Rosa, Esther Papaseit, Olga Hladun et al.
7 citations
Alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone (α-PVP) is a commonly consumed analogue of pyrovalerone, a synthetic cathinone with psychostimulant properties similar to those of 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and cocaine. Since the pharmacology of α-PVP remains scarcely studied, we aimed to evaluate the acute pharmacological effects and its abuse potential in humans after intranasal administration. We...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Jinming Chen, Ying Mai, Xiaolei Cheng et al.
5 citations
The combination of remimazolam and esketamine effectively alleviates adverse hemodynamic effects, such as tachycardia and hypertension, during intubation. However, the dosage for achieving optimal intubation conditions when co-administered with remifentanil remains unestablished. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the effective doses of remimazolam and esketamine for endotracheal...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Haoning Guo, Liling Tang, Miaoquan He et al.
5 citations
Ketamine and esketamine have demonstrated rapid, short-term antidepressant effects in major depressive disorder (MDD), but their relative safety remains unclear. This review aims to update the evidence on the safety of two agents for MDD and indirectly compare their safety and tolerability. We systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and Cochrane databases up to 1 May 2025. Eligible...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Elizabeth G Neureiter, M Quincy Erickson-Oberg, Aparna Nigam et al.
4 citations
N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) are ligand-gated ion channels present at most excitatory synapses in the brain that play essential roles in cognitive functions including learning and memory consolidation. However, NMDAR dysregulation is implicated in many nervous system disorders. Diseases that involve pathological hyperactivity of NMDARs can be treated clinically through inhibition by...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
2025
Sarah Delcourte, Amel Bouloufa, Renaud Rovera et al.
3 citations
Beside image vision, light plays a pivotal role in regulating diverse non-visual functions, including affective behaviors. Recently, bright light stimulation (BLS) was revealed to be beneficial for treating non-seasonal depression, although its mechanism of action is not fully understood. We developed a novel mouse model of refractory depression, induced through social isolation and chronic...