Current Neuropharmacology - Volume 5, Issue 2, 2007

Endocannabinoids are released following brain injury and may protect against excitotoxic damage during the acute stage of injury. Brain injury also activates microglia in a secondary inflammatory phase of more widespread damage. Most drugs targeting the acute stage are not effective if administered more than 6 hours after injury. Therefore, drugs targeting microglia later in the neurodegenerative cascade are desirable. Read More

The endocannabinoid signaling system is composed of the cannabinoid receptors; their endogenous ligands, the endocannabinoids; the enzymes that produce and inactivate the endocannabinoids; and the endocannabinoid transporters. The endocannabinoids are a new family of lipidic signal mediators, which includes amides, esters, and ethers of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. Endocannabinoids signal through the sa Read More

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized clinically by resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia and postural instability due to progressive and selective loss of dopamine neurons in the ventral substantia nigra, with the presence of ubiquitinated protein deposits called Lewy bodies in the neurons. The pathoetiology of cell death in PD is incompletely understood and evidence implicates impaired mitochondrial complex I function, altered Read More

Despite recent advances in the development of antiepileptic drugs, refractory epilepsy remains a major clinical problem affecting up to 35% of patients with partial epilepsy. Currently, there are few therapies that affect the underlying disease process. Therefore, novel therapeutic concepts are urgently needed. The recent development of experimental cell and gene therapies may offer several advantages compared to conv Read More

In the past decade, enormous efforts have been devoted to understand the genetics and molecular pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which has been transferred into extensive experimental approaches aimed at reversing disease progression. The trend in future AD therapy has been shifted from traditional anti-acetylcholinesterase treatment to multiple mechanisms-based therapy targeting amyloid plaques for Read More

Violence and aggression are major causes of death and injury, thus constituting primary public health problems throughout much of the world costing billions of dollars to society. The present review relates our understanding of the neurobiology of aggression and rage to pharmacological treatment strategies that have been utilized and those which may be applied in the future. Knowledge of the neural mechanisms govern Read More