[Slow-wave sleep and the possibilities of modern insomnia therapy]. / Medlennovolnovoi son i vozmozhnosti sovremennoi terapii insomnii.

Effective therapy of insomnia, especially chronic insomnia, is one of the most pressing neuropsychiatric problems. Unfortunately, at present in the Russian Federation, as in most other countries of the world, there are no officially approved drugs for long-term treatment of insomnia. In this regard, the use of medical sedation agents that do not have restrictions on the duration of use is of considerable interest. This review considers drugs of various psychopharmacological classes, one way or another used in practice for the correction of sleep disorders, especially in patients with underlying comorbid pathology.

[The role of nociceptin in opioid regulation of brain functions]. / Rol' notsitseptina v mekhanizmakh opioidnoi reguliatsii funktsii mozga.

This review discusses our current knowledge on the nociceptin/orphanin (N/OFQ) system regarding its role in regulation of brain functions. Nociceptin receptor (NOPr) was identified in 1994 [Bunzow et al., 1994; Mollereau et al., 1994]. In 1995 a 17 amino acid endogenous peptide was found to be the high-affinity ligand for the NOPr [Reinscheid et al., 1995]. N/OFQ has a broad spectrum of activity and can act as on opioid-like as well as an anti-opioid peptide. Considering high level of N/OFQ and NOPr mRNA expression in the limbic brain regions, the N/OFQ/NOP system is suggested to be involved in regulation of emotions, resward, pain sensitivity, stress responsibility, sexual behavior, aggression, drug abuse and addiction. However it is still not well understood whether an increased vulnerability to drugs of abuse may be associated with dysregulation of N/OFQ/NOP system. Current review further highlights a need for further research on N/OFQ/NOP system as it could have clinical utility for substance abuse, depression, and anxiety pharmacotherapy.

[A profile of antidepressive effects of agomelatine and a current view on the mechanism of its action]. / Profil' antidepressivnykh éffektov agomelatina i sovremennyi vzgliad na mekhanizm ego deistviia.

Agomelatine is one of the latest antidepressants (melatoninergic agonists) with a new mechanism of action. From the positions of classical monoaminoergic theory, tts mechanism of action is difficult to understand, because the drug increases the levels of monoamines and neurotrophic factors, while not affecting their reuptake and negative feedback, which control neurotransmission level. Besides the effect on suprachiasmatic nucleus, a relevant role in the mechanism of action of agomelatine plays its special functionally selective (with regard to intracellular signaling pathways) interaction with heteromeric complexes of serotonin 5-НТ2С and melatonin MT2 receptors in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Agomelatine is competitive to other modern antidepressants in the efficacy assessed by the percentage of complete responders and superior in the total frequency of remissions. Compared to other SSRI antidepressants, agomelatine is more effective for anhedonia. In these cases, agomelatine increases the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the blood of responders.