Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 10, Issue 20, 2003

The excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate plays a central role in the development, plasticity, and repair of the CNS. The last decade known as the 'Decade of the Brain' has been a fruitful epoch in the field of glutamate receptor biology. However, many questions still remain about the true in vivo function of glutamate receptor subtype mediated signaling. The first review by G.N. Barnes, M.D. / PhD. and J.T. Slevin, M.D. is desig Read More

Glutamate receptor signaling is essential to normal synaptic function in the central nervous system. The major ionotropic glutamate receptors (AMPA, Kainic, and NMDA) have different synaptic functions depending upon cellular and subcellular localization, subunit composition, and second messenger systems linked to the receptors. In this review, we examine major advances in glutamate receptor biology whose physiology Read More

Although sigma receptors were discovered in 1982, the biochemical and physiological roles of sigma receptors have just begun to unveil. Sigma receptors are non-opioid, non-phencyclidine receptors that contain two subtypes: sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors. The sigma-1 receptor has been cloned and its sequence does not resemble that of any mammalian protein. Sigma-2 receptors have not been cloned. The focus of this r Read More

The Δ2- 1,2,3- triazoline anticonvulsants (TRs) may be considered as representing a unique class of “built-in” heterocyclic prodrugs where the active “structure element” is an integral part of the ring system and can be identified only by a knowledge of their chemical reactivity and metabolism. Investigations on the metabolism and pharmacology of a lead triazoline, ADD17014 suggest that the triazolines function as Read More

Elucidation of the metabolism and pharmacology of 1,2,3-triazolines (TRs) led to the identification of the triazoline pharmacophore and the evolution of the aminoalkylpyridines (AAPs). The AAPs have no activity in the scMet test but are highly effective in the MES seizure test by the oral route. The AAPs bind to the σ1 receptor with low affinity, but high selectivity. They impair Glu release to the same extent as the triazoline Read More

Inflammatory joint diseases are of considerable socio-economic significance. However, mechanisms of cartilage destruction are so far only poorly understood. This review is dedicated to reactive oxygen species (ROS) like superoxide anion radicals, hydrogen peroxide, singlet oxygen, hypochlorous acid, hydroxyl radicals and nitric oxide that are generated under inflammatory conditions and also to their potential contri Read More

Nitric oxide (NO) has been established as an important messenger molecule in various steps of brain physiology, from development to synaptic plasticity, learning and memory. However, NO has also been viewed as a major agent of neuropathology when, escaping controlled production it may directly or indirectly promote oxidative and nitrosative stress. The exact borderline between physiological, and therefore neuroprot Read More

Regulation of expression in gene therapy is considered to be a very desirable goal, preventing toxic effects and improving biological efficacy. A variety of systems have been reported in an ever widening range of applications, this paper describes these systems with specific reference to cancer gene therapy.

Central nervous system (CNS) neural stem cells (NSCs), which are mostly defined by their ability to self-renew and to generate the three main cell lineages of the CNS, were isolated from discrete regions of the adult mammalian CNS including the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricle and the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus. At early stages of CNS cell fate determination, NSCs give rise to progenitors that ex Read More