Psychopharmacology - Call for Papers for a Special Issue on "Innovating translational models of affective disorders"

We are pleased to announce an upcoming Special Issue of Psychopharmacology:

Innovating translational models of affective disorders

Animal models are critical for discovering new therapeutic targets for depression and evaluating the efficacy and mechanisms of action of novel drugs. An excellent illustration of this was the discovery that allopregnanolone is effective for treating postpartum depression. However, as we learn more about the features of major depression in humans, it has become evident that the preclinical approaches being used need to increase their translational potential. Innovations in both preclinical approaches and clinical methods offer a pathway to better understanding how this can be achieved. For example, objective readouts developed for clinical studies and experimental medicine have revealed important neuropsychological impairments linked to depression. This has enabled the development of behavioral tasks for rodents and non-human primates which quantify similar and relevant aspects of emotional processing and reduces the need to try to align animal behavior with subjective self-report measures, more typically used in psychiatry. As new understanding of the human condition develops these provide a platform for translation to preclinical models enabling better modeling of the underlying neurobiology.  Traditional test paradigms have been criticised for not simulating the relevant human affective disorders and also for not leading to effective new treatments, therefore justifying a review of their efficacy and utility.

We are excited to invite you to contribute to a Special Issue of Psychopharmacology on Innovating translational models of affective disorders.  We welcome both Review articles and empirical papers (Original Investigations), including submissions from all types of research including translational and computational models of anhedonia, decision making, reward and punishment processing, and threat learning, as well as innovative methods to induce changes in affect such as developmental stressors and immune challenges and promising new pharmacological treatments. As usual, we prefer articles that combine behavioral pharmacological manipulations or with clear implications for pharmacotherapy.

Please notify guest editor Dr. Emma Robinson (Emma.S.J.Robinson@bristol.ac.uk (this opens in a new tab)) or co-editor Dr. Debra Bangasser (debra.bangasser@temple.edu (this opens in a new tab)), if possible, by July 1, 2022, if you would like to contribute to this Special Issue. Initial mss submissions will be due October 1, 2022, with a likely publication date by early 2023.