Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 13, Issue 9, 2006

Despite the technical progress in interventional techniques to overcome the harmful effects of ischemic heart disease there is still an urgent need for alternative, pharmaceutical treatment modalities. Exogenous stimulation of vessel growth, i.e. vasculogenesis, angiogenesis or arteriogenesis serves as a promising strategy to restore blood flow to the jeopardized tissue regions downstream of arterial stenosis or occlusion. Whil Read More

Epidemiological studies demonstrated that even in the absence of other risk factors (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia, hypercholesterolemia), advanced age itself significantly increases cardiovascular morbidity by enhancing vascular oxidative stress and inflammation. Because the population in the Western world is rapidly aging, there is a substantial need for pharmacological intervention Read More

The enterohepatic circulation of bile acids is a major regulator of serum cholesterol homeostasis. After biosynthesis from cholesterol in the liver, bile acids are secreted with bile into the lumen of the small intestine to aid in the digestion and absorption of fat and fat-soluble vitamins. The bile acids are nearly quantitatively reabsorbed in the terminal ileum by a Na+-dependent transport system (IBAT) and are transported with p Read More

The ionotropic glutamate receptor NMDA is allosterically modulated by glycine, a coagonist, its presence is an absolute requirement for receptor activation. The transport of glycine in glutamatergic synapse is carried out by glycine transporter-1 (GlyT1), a Na+/Cl--dependent carrier molecule. The primary role of GlyT1 is to maintain glycine concentrations below saturation level at postsynaptic NMDA receptors. Several isoforms Read More

Carboxylesterases (CE) are ubiquitous enzymes responsible for the detoxification of xenobiotics. Many therapeutically useful drugs are metabolized by these proteins which impacts upon the efficiency of drug treatment. In some instances, CEs convert inactive prodrugs to active metabolites, a process that is essential for biological activity. Such compounds include the anticancer agents CPT-11 (3) and capecitabine (4), the antibi Read More

Silymarin is a purified extract from milk thistle (Silybum marianun (L.) Gaertn), composed of a mixture of four isomeric flavonolignans: silibinin (its main, active component), isosilibinin, silydianin and silychristin. This extract has been empirically used as a remedy for almost 2000 years, and remains being used as a medicine for many types of acute and chronic liver diseases. Despite its routinely clinical use as hepatoprotecta Read More

Increasing evidence demonstrates that oxidative stress causes damage to cell function with aging and is involved in a number of age-related disorders including atherosclerosis, arthritis, and neurodegenerative disorders. Cellular changes show that oxidative stress is a condition that precedes the appearance of the hallmark pathologies of the disease, neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. The aim of this article is Read More

Cancer is one of the major cases of death in the world. Current treatment of cancer is limited to surgery, radiotherapy, and the use of cytotoxic agents, despite their well known side effects and problems associated with the development of resistance. For most forms of disseminated cancer, however, no curative therapy is available, and the discovery and development of novel active chemotherapeutic agents is largely neede Read More