Neural circuit involved in psychiatric disorder

Neural circuits involved in psychiatric disorders is not a single molecular target but rather refers to interconnected networks of neurons and brain regions whose activity and connectivity underlie the symptoms and pathophysiology of various mental illnesses. These large-scale neural circuits—sometimes called brain networks—include systems such as the default mode network, salience network, affective circuit, and others. Disruptions or maladaptive patterns within these circuits have been implicated across multiple psychiatric conditions including depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, PTSD, and OCD[2][3][4][6]. Modern neuroimaging techniques like fMRI are used to map these dysfunctions at the macroscale level[4]. While modulation of neural circuit activity through interventions such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an emerging therapeutic approach[1][5], "neural circuits" themselves are not discrete druggable targets like receptors or enzymes; rather they represent functional anatomical substrates that integrate genetic risk factors with environmental influences to produce clinical symptoms[3]. As such, this entry does not correspond to a canonical molecular target suitable for structured drug-target databases.

Other names

Neural circuits in mental disordersBrain networks in psychiatric diseaseLarge-scale neural circuits in psychiatryDefault mode network (as a specific example)