CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders) - Volume 13, Issue 9, 2014

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder, which results from the loss of specific population of neurons, namely the pigmented dopamine secreting neurons of the substnatia nigra pars compatica (SNPc) of midbrain. The exact cause leading to nigrostriatal cell death is not yet known. In recent years, accumulating evidence from the identified molecular events in familial forms of PD contributed much to unr Read More

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease which is associated with neuropsychiatric and neuropathological disorders. Herein, the main goal of the presented work is to investigate the effect of Morus alba leaves extract in mice brain infected with Schistosoma mansoni. Since, the resistance of Schistosomes to antischistosomal drug (praziquantel) has been examined, schistosomiasis induced brain oxidative stress as evidence Read More

There is an increasing number of evidence showing analgesic properties of the kynurenic acid (KYNA), and also some studies demonstrate that kynurenine might interact with the opioid system. Therefore in this study, for the first time we investigated the direct binding affinity of KYNA and its structural analog KYNA-1 towards mu, kappa and delta opioid receptor in competition binding experiments applying opioid receptor spe Read More

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder. Its neuropathological hallmarks include deposition of beta amyloid (Aβ) fibrils in senile plaques. Numerous biochemical events, leading to Aβ neurotoxicity in AD, have been proposed and it seems that neuroinflammation plays a prominent role among these. Thus, since inflammatory processes and oxidative stress are considered to play an important role i Read More

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder mainly characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, loss of synapses and neurons and chronic neuroinflammation. Emerging data highlight the involvement of innate immunity, that has been shown to play opposing roles during the AD progression. Activated microglia and reactive astrocytes exert neuroprotection mediated through Aβphagocytosis in Read More

Fibroblast growth factor 14 (FGF14) is a member of the intracellular FGF (iFGFs) family and a functionally relevant component of the neuronal voltage-gated Na+ (Nav) channel complex. Through a monomeric interaction with the intracellular C-terminus of neuronal Nav channels, FGF14 modulates Na+ currents in an Nav isoform-specific manner serving as a fine-tuning regulator of excitability. Previous studies based on t Read More

Autophagy is a cellular process that mediates selective degradation of cellular components in lysosomes. Autophagy may protect against neuronal apoptosis, which is induced in a number of neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, compounds that modulate autophagy could be beneficial to treat neurological disorders characterized by apoptosis such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, as well as human-immunodeficiency vir Read More

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease with major impacts on patients’ lives and on society as a whole. It is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the world, second only to Alzheimer’s disease. Low levels of production of dopamine (DA) are associated with PD. This is caused by a progressive loss of neurons in the midbrain’s substantia nigra, resulting in changes in neural con Read More

Anesthetic agents induce cellular stress that may affect blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability permeability in the developing brain causing brain dysfunction. In this investigation, effects of Propofol on cellualr stress using inducible heat shock protein (HSP72) and BBB breakdown employing albumin immunoreactivity in the mouse brain were examined. Propofol was administered to in mice on the postnatal day 10 once (10 m Read More

The Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) gene has been associated with schizophrenia in several populations, and all four types of NRG1 genes are linked with neurotransmitters activities. In this study for the first time we have demonstrated an association between NRG1 mutation and schizophrenia in Pakistani population. We examined the relationship of three genetic variants SNPs: rs3924999, rs2954041 and rs35753505 of NRG1 gen Read More

Recently, it has been proposed that the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) plays a crucial role in damaging cellular processes, such as neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, excitotoxicity and oxidative stress. RAGE is a multiligand receptor belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily of cell surface molecules acting as a counter-receptor for diverse molecules. Engagement of RAGE converts a brief pulse of Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by selective neuron loss, amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Oxidative stress plays an essential role in the progression of AD. As the carotenoid crocetin has been shown to possess anti-oxidative effects in previous studies, now we have investigated the neuroprotective effects and potential molecular mechanism of crocetin action against A Read More