Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 19, Issue 2, 2012

Numerous structurally different non-nucleoside compounds have been evaluated for their inhibitory effects against HIV replication, in which DABO derivatives, bearing the dihydro-alkoxyl-benzyl-oxopyrimidine scaffold, have been identified as a particular class of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). The S-DABO, NH-DABO, -N-DABO, DATNO and DACO analogs represent various structural chemical mo Read More

Mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatases (MKPs) are dual specificity protein phosphatases (DUSPs) that dephosphorylate both phospho-tyrosine and phospho-threonine residues on mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Because the MAPK family of signalling molecules (phospho-p38 MAPK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)) play essential roles in cell signalling p Read More

Quorum sensing (QS) is a communication procedure that predominates gene expression in response to cell density and fluctuations in the neighboring environment as a result of discerning molecules termed autoinducers (AIs). It has been embroiled that QS can govern bacterial behaviors such as the secretion of virulence factors, biofilm formation, bioluminescence production, conjugation, sporulation and swarm Read More

Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer, but only a part of smoking subjects develop these respiratory pathologies. Therefore, it is necessary to find sensible parameters to detect early lung alterations due to chronic tobacco smoke exposure. Long-term cigarette smoking is associated with a persistent inflammatory response Read More

Despite their relatively lower efficiency, nonviral approaches are emerging as safer alternatives in gene therapy to viral vectors. Delivery of nucleic acids to the target site is an important factor for effective gene expression (plasmid DNA) or knockdown (siRNA) with minimal side effects. Direct deposition at the target site by physical methods, including ultrasound, electroporation and gene gun, is one approach for local delivery. Read More

Chalcones (1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-ones) and their heterocyclic analogues, belong to the flavonoid family, which possess a number of interesting biological properties such as antioxidant, cytotoxic, anticancer, antimicrobial, antiprotozoal, antiulcer, antihistaminic and anti-inflammatory activities. Several pure chalcones have been approved for clinical use or tested in humans. Clinical trials have shown that these compou Read More

Specific noncovalent interactions that are indicative of attractive, directional intermolecular forces have always been of key interest to medicinal chemists in their search for the “glue” that holds drugs and their targets together. With the rapid increase in the number of solved biomolecular structures as well as the performance enhancement of computer hardware and software in recent years, it is now possible to give more Read More

Triazole compounds containing three nitrogen atoms in the five-membered aromatic azole ring are readily able to bind with a variety of enzymes and receptors in biological system via diverse non-covalent interactions, and thus display versatile biological activities. The related researches in triazole-based derivatives as medicinal drugs have been an extremely active topic, and numerous excellent achievements have been ac Read More

Gyroxin is a glycoprotein isolated from rattlesnake venom, with known thrombin-like serine protease properties and behavioral action in the CNS. The mechanism of the latter has eluded experimenters for three decades. In this paper about the in vitro chick retina we demonstrate an excitotoxic CNS action of Gyroxin by observing retinal Intrinsic Optical Signals (IOS). These show sudden dynamic changes in the intact ti Read More

Utilizing the intrinsic optical signal (IOS) of retinal Spreading Depression (rSD) waves and the concomitant transparency changes of the tissue, we show that nicotine, in an in vivo near tissue preparation, has neuroprotective effects against the excitotoxic cell death, mediated through the activation of glutamate-receptors. For this study the retinal tissue was treated with NMDA, an agonist for the NMDA-glutamate-receptor, Read More

Spreading Depression is the underlying patho physiological mechanism for the neurological symptoms of migraine aura and is thought to play a major role in triggering migraine. Therefore it seems reasonable to use the Spreading Depression as a pharmacological tool for anti migraine drugs. Drugs that are able to alter parameters of Spreading Depression should also influence appearance and course of migraine attack Read More