Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 20, Issue 26, 2013

Diabetic retinopathy affects one-third of people with diabetes and is the most frequent cause of blindness in working aged adults. Although diabetic retinopathy blindness appears to have fallen in the developed world, the rapidly increasing number of persons with diabetes worldwide has resulted in a continuous increase in the global burden of this disease. The major risk factors for diabetic retinopathy include duration of diabetes, Read More

Although it has become acceptable that neuroretinal cells are also affected in diabetes, vascular lesions continue to be considered as the hallmarks of diabetic retinopathy. Animal models are essential for the understanding and treatment of human diabetic retinopathy, and the mouse is intensively used as a model because of its similarity to human and the possibility to be genetically modified. However, until today not all Read More

The onset of diabetic retinopathy is characterized by morphologic alterations of the microvessels, with thickening of the basement membrane, loss of inter-endothelial tight junctions and early and selective loss of pericytes, together with increased vascular permeability, capillary occlusions, microaneurysms and, later, loss of endothelial cells (EC). A key role in the evolution of the disease is played by pericytes, specialized con Read More

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in young adults, and with the incidence of diabetes increasing at a frightening rate, retinopathy is estimated to threaten vision for almost 51 million patients worldwide. In diabetes, mitochondria structure, function and DNA (mtDNA) are damaged in the retina and its vasculature, and the mtDNA repair machinery and biogenesis are compromised. Proteins encoded by Read More

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) has a complex pathogenesis which is impacted by a raft of systemic abnormalities and tissue-specific alterations occurring in response to the diabetes milieu. Many pathogenic processes play key roles in retinal damage in diabetic patients. One such pathway is the formation and accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) and advanced lipoxidation end products (ALEs) which are rel Read More

Diabetic retinopathy (DR), commonly classified as a microvascular complication of diabetes, is now recognized as a neurovascular complication or sensory neuropathy resulting from disruption of the neurovascular unit. Current therapies for DR target the vascular complication of the disease process, including neovascularization and diabetic macular edema. Since neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of DR Read More

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been classically considered to be a microcirculatory disease of the retina. However, there is growing evidence to suggest that retinal neurodegeneration is an early event in the pathogenesis of DR which participates in the microcirculatory abnormalities that occur in DR. Among the neuroprotective factors synthesized by the retina, somatostatin (SST) is one of the most relevant. In DR there is Read More

Despite improving standards of care, people with diabetes remain at risk of development and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and visual impairment. Identifying novel therapeutic approaches, preferably targeting more than one pathogenic pathway in DR, and at an earlier stage of disease, is attractive. There is now consistent evidence from two major trials, the Fenofibrate Intervention and Event Lowering in Diabet Read More

Purpose: To review the most important metabolic effects and clinical safety data of subthreshold micropulse diode laser (D-MPL) in diabetic macular edema (DME). Methods: Review of the literature about the mechanisms of action and role of D-MPL in DME. Results: The MPL treatment does not damage the retina and is selectively absorbed by the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). MPL stimulates secretion of different protective c Read More

To study novel treatments for high grade gliomas (WHO grade III and IV) we need animal models of those disorders. Orthotopic tumors in mouse or rats seem at present the most reliable in vivo glioma model in order to develop specific therapies. The orthotopic tumor characteristics should yet closely mimic the human glioma features (in particular infiltrating growth and neovascularization). In this regard, glioma cell lines with st Read More

Migraine is one of the most frequent neurological disorder with high impact on the quality of life. Primary headaches such as migraine are pathophysiologically complex disorders. The concept of the trigeminovascular system dysfunction in migraine has led to a number of drug discoveries dramatically changing the treatment options. Acute and prophylactic therapy targeting either the trigeminovascular system Read More