Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 20, Issue 32, 2013

As demographics in developed nations shift towards an aging population, neurodegenerative pathologies, especially dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, pose one of the largest challenges to the modern health care system. Since there is yet no cure for dementia, there is great pressure to discover potential therapeutics for these diseases. One popular candidate is curcumin or diferuloylmethane, a polyphenolic compound t Read More

Despite being the most abundant type of biopolymers in Nature, the biological relevance of carbohydrates has systematically been underrated for decades, associating them far less sophisticated functions (structural or energy sourcing) than those unraveled for polynucleotides and proteins. The inherently large and complex diversity of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates, together with the lack of efficient technologies to eith Read More

ASIA syndrome, “Autoimmune (Auto-inflammatory) Syndromes Induced by Adjuvants” includes at least four conditions which share a similar complex of signs and symptoms and have been defined by hyperactive immune responses: siliconosis, macrophagic myofasciitis syndrome, Gulf war syndrome and post-vaccination phenomena. Exposure to adjuvants has been documented in these four medical conditions, suggest Read More

Bicarbonate (HCO3 -) membrane transport systems are crucial players in the physiology of several tissues. The molecular basis of HCO3 - membrane transport is of major physiological relevance since this ion is involved in the establishment of intracellular and extracellular ionic composition, osmolariy and pH. The membrane HCO3 - transporters are divided in two main families: solute carrier 4 (SLC4) and solute Read More

The pronounced effects of the epigenetic diet (ED) and caloric restriction (CR) have on epigenetic gene regulation have been documented in many pre-clinical and clinical studies. Understanding epigenetics is of high importance because of the concept that external factors such as nutrition and diet may possess the ability to alter gene expression without modifying the DNA sequence. The ED introduces bioactive medicinal chemi Read More

This review explores the different aspects of constitutional factors in early life that modulate toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of low-dose mercury resulting from acute ethylmercury (etHg) exposure in Thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCV). Major databases were searched for human and experimental studies that addressed issues related to early life exposure to TCV. It can be concluded that: a) mercury load in fetuse Read More

Multidrug resistance (MDR) mediated by P-glycoprotein is one of the best characterized transporter-mediated barriers to successful cancer chemotherapy. In an attempt to find MDR-reversing agents, a series of novel acridine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro antiproliferative activities against K562 and K562/ADM cells. Some of these compounds showed superior MDR-reversing activities than A Read More

Hydroquinone and tranexamic acids (TXA) are skin-lightening agents with a hydrophilic nature and low skin absorption. A high dose is needed for clinical use, resulting in a high incidence of skin irritation. Co-drugs formed by conjugating hydroquinone and TXA were synthesized and their in vitro and in vivo skin absorption characteristics were evaluated. The two synthesized co-drugs were 4-hydroxyphenyl 4-(aminomethyl)cy Read More