The pathophysiology of psychiatric diseases, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and autism, is far from being fully elucidated. In recent years, a potential role of the oxidative stress has been highlighted in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders. A body of clinical and preclinical evidence indicates that psychiatric diseases are characterized by higher levels of oxidative biomarkers and with lower levels of antioxidant defense biomarkers in the brain and peripheral tissues. In this article, we review current knowledge on the role of the oxidative stress in psychiatric diseases, based on clinical trials and animal studies, in addition, we analyze the effects of drug-induced modulation of oxidative balance and explore pharmacotherapeutic strategies for oxidative stress reduction.
Keywords: Animal study; Antioxidant defense molecule; Clinical study; Non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidant; Oxidative biomarker.
Copyright © 2014 Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z o.o. All rights reserved.