Current Bioactive Compounds - Volume 4, Issue 2, 2008

Medicinal chemistry is a highly rewarding field of study, which essentially provides novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of a variety of human diseases. I am privileged to serve as guest editor and present this intellectually stimulating issue highlighting the medicinal chemistry advancements in critically important health problems such as alzheimer's disease, diabetes, hepatitis C virus infection, and intractable c Read More

Aberrant interactions of redox-active transition metals Cu2+, Zn2+ and Fe3+ in the central nervous system (CNS) with metal-binding proteins such as amyloid-β (Aβ), neuromelanin, etc., with concomitant increase in oxidative stress leading to consequential neuronal damage are central to the pathology of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and others. The therapeutic signific Read More

In this review, we focus on the chemicals used in the current treatment of type 2 diabetes and discuss some potentially viable, promising targets in the management of this metabolic syndrome, with a special mention to some naturally occurring bioactive compounds. Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM or Type 2 diabetes) is a prevalent, chronic metabolic disorder, which affects more than 171 million people worl Read More

Infections caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV) are a significant worldwide health problem for which novel therapies are urgently needed. One attractive and viable therapeutic target is HCV NS5B RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) since it is essential for the replication of the viral genome of HCV. The hunt for nonnucleoside inhibitors (NNIs) of HCV NS5B polymerase has led to the identification of several allosteric p Read More

The TRPV1 vanilloid receptor, first cloned and characterized in 1997, is a non-selective cation channel expressed in primary sensory neurons, and is a key pain sensor and integrator. Activators of this receptor are varied and include capsaicin, the pungent phenolic principle from hot chilli peppers, endogenous lipid anandamide, noxious heat, and low extracellular pH. Agonists of the TRPV1 receptor have been investigated for develo Read More

Lipases are the most used enzymes as biocatalyst in the resolution of chiral compounds. However many times the selectivity towards different intermediates is very low. A simple strategy has recently been reported to permit greatly enhancing the lipase selectivity. The strategy -based on the great conformational changes of these enzymes during catalysis- consists in the preparation of a library of lipase biocatalysts by usi Read More