Abstract
Findings are summarized about basic intracellular signalling pathways influencing neurotransmission and being concerned in neurodegenerative or neuropsychiatric disorders. New neurochemical hypotheses of mood disorders are disclosed.
These hypotheses focus on the constituents of intracellular signalling pathways that could be studied as biological markers of mood disorders: transcription factor CREB, neurotrophin BDNF and its trkB receptor, antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2, proapoptotic enzyme GSK-3, caspases, calcium, and a number of mitochondrial functions related to brain energetics.