Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 10, Issue 19, 2003

Modern neurology is becoming daily more complex and the practising physician finds it difficult to know the significance of particular advances in neurochemistry, neuroimmunology and molecular biology of the brain. In this special edition, we have brought together a number of learned scientists who have looked at common everyday neurological problems and given us insights as to how to look anew at the pathophysiol Read More

Coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinone), which serves as the electron acceptor for complexes I and II of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and also acts as an antioxidant, has the potential to be a beneficial agent in neurodegenerative diseases in which there is impaired mitochondrial function and / or excessive oxidative damage. Substantial data have accumulated to implicate these processes in the pathogenesis in certain neu Read More

Individuals with elevated homocysteine levels are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke, and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases Homocysteine is a modified form of the amino acid methionine that is tightly regulated by enzymes requiring folate. By impairing DNA repair mechanisms and inducing oxidative stress, homocysteine can cause the dysfunction or death of cells in t Read More

The balance between cytokines with pro- and anti-inflammatory effects contributes to the course of the Guillain-Barre syndrome and chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy. TNFα seems to be an important factor in the cascade of events leading to demyelination and even axonal damage. During the acute phase, the serum concentrations of TNFα and IL-6 are elevated while anti-inflammatory cytokines are Read More

Hashimoto's encephalopathy may present with a wide variety of different neurological symptoms and signs. These include recurrent severe migrainous headache, psychoses, seizures, ataxia, dementia, stupor and coma. We present a personal series of 18 adult patients with Hashimoto's encephalopathy and a review of the literature in this paper. The natural history, laboratory abnormalities and neuroimaging data in thes Read More

Viral infections have been associated with the development of several neurological and neuroendocrine autoimmune diseases. Structural similarities between environmental proteins and self-proteins have long been proposed to be targets for immune cross reactivity associated with initiation of autoimmune diseases. This mechanism called molecular mimicry has also been put forward for immune mediated neurologi Read More

This review represents a compilation of typical substrates and inhibitors for human cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes that are involved in drug metabolism, specifically those from the CYP1, CYP2 and CYP3 families. Relatively recent literature on substrates and inhibitors has been collected and the relevant Km and Ki values, respectively, are tabulated. Furthermore, physicochemical properties in the form of lipophilicity (log Read More

In recent years modified oligonucleotides (oligos) have become an area of increased research activity. These synthetic biopolymers have long been used as molecular probes to understand better the interaction between proteins and nucleic acids at molecular level, which in fact is responsible for all aspects of cellular or viral gene expression. Modified oligos have also been used as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. For exampl Read More

Glycosaminoglycans, highly charged polycarboxylated, polysulfated polysaccharides, are an important class of therapeutic agents and investigational drug candidates. Heparin has been widely used as a clinical anticoagulant for over 60 years. Low molecular weight heparins have begun to displace heparin and recently a synthetic heparin pentasaccharide was approved for clinical use in Europe. In addition to hepar Read More

From the synthetic point of view the fast developing fields of medicine and biology offer new opportunities for the design of very effective drugs with high selectivity. Especially in the field of anticancer therapy many efforts have been made to deliver drugs to specific tissues. Sugar substituted porphyrin compounds, bile acid conjugates, and pH-sensitive immunoliposomes are only some examples. Although there are many diffe Read More

Gap junctions are unique intercellular channels that connect the cytoplasm of adjacent cells. They are the only channels that mediate the direct cytoplasmic exchange of small hydrophilic molecules between cells - a process called gap junctional communication. Formed by a family of integral membrane proteins called connexins, gap junctions are dynamic multifunctional complexes that are essential for healthy vertebrate dev Read More