Editorial [Hot Topic: Anti-Aging Compounds (Guest Editor: Bela Torok)]

This special issue of Current Bioactive Compounds is dedicated to anti-aging compounds. The expected life span continues to increase over the World, and we celebrate achievements that made this possible including medical, agricultural, industrial and many others. The dark side of this unquestionable progress is that we have to face a more pronounced affect of aging related diseases on our families and societies. In this issue we concentrated on two common aging related diseases, namely Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Three reviews highlight recent achievements in these fields. Due to the major focus of CBC, the authors targeted chemical means that are in progress in these research areas. The opening account by Xudong Huang and his coworkers (Harvard University Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA) covers recent developments in the Alzheimer's disease related amyloid-targeted metal chelation, antioxidative stress, and anti-inflammation as potential Alzheimer's therapies. The authors have reviewed the pathogenic roles of brain biometal dysregulation, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation in AD. The potential Alzheimer's therapies targeting these areas have also been reviewed. The second topic, on the role of iron chelators as potential therapeutic agents for Parkinson's disease has been reviewed by Maolin Guo and his colleagues (University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA). This work summarizes major recent developments in natural and synthetic iron chelating compounds and hydrogen peroxide-triggered prochelators as potential drug candidates for Parkinson's disease treatment. The final contribution to this issue is towards the role of the chemical structure; the effect of substituents of small molecule inhibitors in self-assembly of Alzheimer's disease related amyloid-beta peptide by Marianna Torok and her coworkers (University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA) attempts to analyze the structural characteristics of inhibitors of amyloid beta selfassembly. The work provides an analysis of the most common substituents that are present in Aβ inhibitors and highlights the several chemical moieties that appear significant to their effect. The contributing authors and I truly hope that these accounts will appeal to a wide range of readers who hopefully will find this special issue about anti-aging compounds interesting, informative and useful.