Biological Psychiatry

Can genetic testing effectively identify clinically significant variants for schizophrenia?

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Want to learn more about the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study?👀 Check out the ABCD-ReproNim course! The Fall 2025 course is going on NOW✨ Students may have the opportunity to participate in the 2026 hackathon in Miami🏝️ For more info: abcd-repronim.org 🎉

Investigating links between prenatal cannabis exposure and brain development using MRI techniques: a narrative review Understanding the impact of prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) on brain development is increasingly important given the rising cannabis use in pregnancy. Many existing reviews on this topic are over fiv...

In this narrative review of recent MRI studies, Gonçalves and colleagues found that while prenatal cannabis exposure is linked to brain differences from in utero to adolescence, diverse methodologies and confounding factors currently prevent a consistent understanding of its impact.

Predicting repetitive negative thinking in daily life: Insights from the brain-based graph-theoretical predictive modeling Abnormalities in the functional connectivity of large-scale brain networks, including the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), fronto-parietal (FPN), and limbic networks, have been implicated in repetit...

Using brain-based graph-theoretical predictive modeling, Schettino and colleagues identified specific properties within the default mode, frontoparietal, and limbic networks that accurately predict the severity, fluctuations, and clinical features of repetitive negative thinking in daily life.

A tale of two receptors: simultaneous targeting of NMDARs and 5-HT4Rs exerts additional effects against stress Serotonin (5-HT) receptors and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression and anxiety disorders. Here, we evaluated whether targeting both recept...

Latest work from @brikchen.bsky.social @drchristineannd.bsky.social and others shows that combining ketamine and prucalopride is more effective than either drug alone at reducing stress-induced physiology at the neural and behavioral levels, suggesting a promising new treatment approach.

Task and resting state fMRI modelling of brain-behavior relationships in developmental cohorts Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data are often used to inform individual differences in cognitive, behavioral, and psychiatric phenotypes. These so-called “brain-behavior” association stu...

In this review, @lucinauddin.bsky.social and Hugh Garavan examine how task and resting-state fMRI can reveal brain-behavior relationships in youth, highlighting current controversies and challenges, outlining solutions, and proposing future directions in developmental neuroscience research.

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Commentary on Chowdhury et al. by Hossein

Effects of the KCNQ (Kv7) Channel Opener Ezogabine on Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Striatal Brain Reward Regions, Depression, and Anhedonia in Major Depressive Disorder: Results From a Ran... Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide, with available treatments often showing limited efficacy. Recent research suggests that targeting specific subtypes of depre...

Chowdhury et al. analyzed data from a RCT to demonstrate that ezogabine, a potassium channel opener, reduced depression and anhedonia symptoms by decreasing connectivity between reward and the mid/posterior cingulate regions.

Commentary on Hannon et al. by Rosso

Parsing Clinical and Neurobiological Sources of Heterogeneity in Depression Patients with depression vary from one another in their clinical and neuroimaging presentation, but the relationship between clinical and neuroimaging sources of variation is poorly understood. Determ...

Hannon et al. found that depression subtypes with distinct clinical features show different brain imaging patterns, and some patients with identical presentations can have different neuroimaging profiles, revealing complex relationships between clinical and neurobiological heterogeneity.

Early Career Investigator Commentary on Nikkheslat et al. by Youn

Sex-Specific Alterations of the Kynurenine Pathway in Association With Risk for and Remission of Depression in Adolescence The imbalance between neurotoxic and neuroprotective metabolites of the kynurenine pathway has been implicated in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) in adulthood but has not been f...

Nikkheslat et al. identified that adolescent females at high risk for or with depression showed reduced neuroprotective kynurenine pathway metabolites, with increased neurotoxic metabolite production predicting persistent depression in females but not males.

Insights Into the Effects of Ketamine on the Opioid System Dating to seminal studies from Krystal and colleagues in the 1990s (1), racemic ketamine and subsequently esketamine have had a dramatic impact on psychiatric therapeutics as rapidly acting antidepres...

Commentary on Pomrenze et al. by Zorumski and Mennerick

Ketamine Evokes Acute Behavioral Effects Via μ Opioid Receptor–Expressing Neurons of the Central Amygdala Ketamine has anesthetic, analgesic, and antidepressant properties, which may involve multiple neuromodulatory systems. In humans, the opioid receptor (OR) antagonist naltrexone blocks the antidepressa...

Pomrenze et al. demonstrate that ketamine-induced increases in locomotor activity depends on μ-opioid receptors in the central amygdala.

Does the Influence of Low Body Mass Index on Diagnosis Complicate Genetic Studies of the Role of Cardiometabolic Traits in Liability to Anorexia Nervosa? Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder for which the underlying etiology remains mostly uncharacterized. Large-scale genetic studies of AN suggest a relationship between AN liability and cardiome...

Reay et al. revew genetic relationships between cardiometabolic traits and anorexia nervosa, discussing how BMI-based diagnostic criteria complicate interpretation of these associations, and outline recommendations for future genetic research.

Prophylactic Ketamine: Current Knowledge and Future Directions The prevalence of stress-induced disorders, including depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, and postpartum depression, has been increasing, while current treatment approaches are limited...

Cardona-Acosta et al. provide a comprehensive review of ketamine as a prophylactic treatment for stress-induced disorders, covering mechanisms of action, associated risks and limitations, and implications for future clinical practice.

Our latest issue, focused on Mechanisms of Depression and Antidepressant Pharmacotherapy, is now online!

This issue includes archival reports, reviews, and commentaries. ⬇️

The Biological Psychiatry family of journals is now officially on Bluesky!

Follow us for the latest research in psychiatric neuroscience, cognitive neuroimaging, and global open science from our three leading journals.

The Biological Psychiatry family of journals is now officially on Bluesky!

Follow us for the latest research in psychiatric neuroscience, cognitive neuroimaging, and global open science from our three leading journals.