Exploring the Key Targets and Compounds That Manipulate Brain Neurocircuits Against Mental Disorders and Psychiatric Comorbidities, Volume III: AI-Enabled and Brain-Body Axis-Integrated Systems Pharmacology

With the rapid advancement of modern neuroscience, modulating neural circuits and functional brain networks has emerged as a transformative therapeutic strategy for neurological and psychiatric disorders. Precision circuit-level interventions—ranging from optogenetic and chemogenetic manipulation to advanced neuroimaging and network mapping—have demonstrated targeted alleviation of disease symptoms. These breakthroughs highlight the inherent limitations of traditional psychopharmacological approaches focused solely on single molecular targets (such as classic GABA or 5-HT receptors), underscoring an urgent need for a paradigm shift toward multi-scale, systems-level network pharmacology.Following the success of the inaugural volume, Volume III aims to advance this paradigm by integrating cutting-edge artificial intelligence, multi-omics technologies, brain-body communication axes, and systems pharmacology. We seek contributions that discover and validate novel molecular targets, dissect network-level dynamics, and explore synthetic small molecules and purified natural bioactive compounds capable of precisely regulating neural circuits. Our primary objective is to accelerate the translation of foundational circuit-level discoveries into actionable pharmacological interventions for mental disorders and psychiatric comorbidities.We welcome submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:1. Identification and validation of key molecular targets, synthetic small molecules, and purified natural bioactive compounds regulating brain neurocircuits and networks in psychiatric and neurological diseases (e.g., major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and traumatic brain injury)2. Pharmacological targets and therapeutic candidates that prevent or treat mental disorders and psychiatric comorbidities, such as anxiety- and depression-like symptoms associated with chronic pain or eating disorders, and cognitive impairment linked to affective or metabolic disorders3. Application of AI, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms on multi-omics data (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) to identify regulatory nodes within neural circuits, or the development of AI-aided neuropharmacology models to predict drug-induced network dynamics and accelerate candidate screening4. Investigation of brain-body communication axes (including gut-brain, immune-brain, and metabolic-brain axes) in mental disorders, cross-system regulatory target discovery, and screening of small-molecule compounds and microbial metabolites that modulate brain-body interaction networks5. Experimental models, high-throughput screening platforms, and neuromodulation-pharmacology combined approaches for discovering and validating druggable targets in brain network interventionImportant Scope Note:All contributions to this Research Topic must fall strictly within the scope and mission of the Neuropharmacology section of Frontiers in Pharmacology. In accordance with section policy, studies focusing on traditional Chinese medicine, crude herbal extracts, or uncharacterized complex mixtures are excluded. All research involving compounds of natural or microbial origin must utilize highly purified, chemically characterized single active compounds with explicitly defined structures and verified pharmacological mechanisms. Frontiers reserves the right to guide out-of-scope manuscripts to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review. Topic editors: Weijie Xie, Song Zhang, Yuanyuan Deng Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82580/exploring-the-key-targets-and-compounds-that-manipulate-brain-neurocircuits-against-mental-disorders-and-psychiatric-comorbidities-volume-iii-ai-enabled-and-brain-body-axis-integrated-systems-pharmacology