Main description:

Biomarkers hold immense promise for the early detection of disease. Unlike other disorders like diabetes and heart disease where a limited number of biological markers are at hand that allow the physician to come up with a reliable diagnosis, there are currently no such markers available for affective disorders. As in any other disease area a major goal is therefore the identification of early markers that can categorize subsets of subjects in a consistent manner. This will allow a more precise definition and categorization of affective disorders and in turn facilitate investigations of the pathogenesis of the diseases and enhance our ability for treatment.

This edited volume will not only address the area of affective disorders but also other brain disorders that are neurological in nature, including Multiple Sclerosis and Alzheimer Disease.

Contents:

Blood and Brain Gene Expression in Major Psychiatric Disorders: A Search for Biomarkers.- Biomarkers in Schizophrenia.- Proteomic Strategies for Biomarker Discovery: From Differential Expression to Isoforms to Pathways.- Schizophrenia Biomarkers: A Means to Advance Disease Understanding, Diagnosis and Treatment.- RNA Biomarkers in Schizophrenia.- Metabolomics: A Global Biochemical Approach to the Discovery of Biomarkers for Psychiatric Disorders.- Animal Models for Schizophrenia: A Brief Overview.- Synaptoproteomics of Existing and new Animal Models of Depression.- Animal Models for Anxiety Disorders.- Animal Models of Affective Behaviors and Drug Addiction.- Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Schizophrenia.- Sleep EEG Provides Biomarkers in Depression.- Strategies to Identify Biomarkers for Depression.- Pharmacogenetics of Antidepressant Response.- Perspectives for an Integrated Biomarker Approach to Drug Discovery and Development.- Hunting for Peripheral Biomarkers to Support Drug Development in Psychiatry.- Biomarkers for the Development of Antidepressant and Anxiolytic Drugs.- DNA Biomarkers for Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine.- Biological Modeling in the Discovery and Validation of Cognitive Dysfunctions Biomarkers.