Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 7, Issue 2, 2000

The development of new drugs with potential therapeutic applications is one of the most complex and difficult process in the pharmaceutical industry. Millions of dollars and man-hours are devoted to the discovery of new therapeutical agents. As, the activity of a drug is the result of a multitude of factors such as bioavailability, toxicity and metabolism, ratio-nal drug design has been utopias for centuries. Very recently, i Read More

Siderophores (microbial iron chelators) play an extremely important role in microbial pathogenicity. Microbial uptake of siderophore-iron complexes through active transport systems allow microbes to survive and proliferate even under iron deficient environments during invasion of a host. Due to their structural complexity, unique iron (III) chelation, acquisition properties, and their therapeutic potential, siderophores have attracte Read More

Central nervous system (CNS) selective amino acid transporters provide an important function in maintaining tonic extracellular levels of amino acids that act as neurotransmitters, synaptic modulators or neurotransmitter precursors. Small molecule inhibitors of these transporters have been postulated and in some cases demonstrated to be useful in the treatment of a range of CNS driven disorders such as epilepsy, anxiety, Read More

Prostate cancer, acne, seborrhea, hirsutism, and androgenic alopecia are well recognized to depend upon an excess or increased sensitivity to androgens or to be at least sensitive to androgens. It thus seems logical to use antiandrogens as therapeutic agents to prevent androgens from binding to the androgen receptor. The two predominant naturally occurring androgens are testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (D Read More

Propofol (2,6-diisopropylphenol) is becoming the intravenous anesthetic of choice for ambulatory surgery in outpatients. It is extensively metabolized, with most of the administered dose appearing in the urine as glucuronide conjugates. Favorable operating conditions and rapid recovery are claimed as the main advantages in using propofol, whereas disadvantages include a relatively high incidence of apnea, an Read More