CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders) - Volume 15, Issue 7, 2016

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive method that can be used as an interventional technique to investigate causality in the brain-behavior relationship, through depolarization or hyperpolarization in the neurons of the brain. Different techniques of TMS can be used to investigate causality in the brain-behavior relationship. The behavioral effects induced by TMS are complex since it has been shown that Read More

Empirical evidence currently supports the idea that neurovascular dysfunction is involved in the neurodegenerative process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In fact, epidemiological studies report that i) vascular risk factors are directly associated with an increased incidence of AD and ii) vascular lesions are frequently co-existent with AD. The neurovascular unit is a key control system for oxygen and nutrients exchange between n Read More

To this day, the pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer’s disease remains limited to the temporary stabilisation of cognitive decline and the reduction of neuropsychiatric symptoms. It is moreover with great difficulty to predict and select promising drug candidates in the early stages of the discovery and developmental process. In this context, scientists have developed new experimental paradigms to artificially induce tr Read More

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) was proposed as a neurophysiological tool almost three decades ago. It now encompasses a very wide range of applications including clinical research and the treatment of psychiatric, neurologic and medical conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, addictions, post-traumatic stress disorders, pain, migraine, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, multiple sclerosis and Par Read More

The early assessment of new symptomatic drugs against Alzheimer’s disease remains difficult because of the lack of a predictive end-point. The use of a battery including different parameters could improve this early development. In order to test the reverse effect of symptomatic drugs in healthy volunteers, scientists have developed new experimental paradigms to artificially induce transient cognitive impairments in healt Read More

Pharmacological therapies currently marketed for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are only symptomatic and show limited effects in terms of clinical benefit. Thus, the development of new symptomatic drugs remains essential. However the dramatic increase in costs associated with drug development together with the poor number of emerging drugs highlights how crucial it is to accelerate the findings aiming to bringing Read More

Glaucoma is a form of multifactorial ocular neurodegeneration with immensely complex etiology, pathogenesis and pathology. Though the mainstream therapeutic management of glaucoma is lowering of intraocular pressure, there is, as of now, no cure for the disease. New evidences ardently suggest brain involvement in all aspects of this malady. This consequently advocates the opinion that brain should be the spotlig Read More

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is more than a mere tool for clinical non-invasive approaches to stimulate and synchronize the neuronal activity in the brain. Electromagnetic stimulation through TMS has recently emerged as a therapeutic alternative for the treatment of different neurological disorders. Among the many properties recently discovered for TMS, its action as an accounting factor for neuroplasticity an Read More

It has been well documented that methamphetamine induces microglial activation and death, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying this process remain poorly understood. In the present study, we demonstrated the involvement of sigma-1 receptor (σ-1R) in methamphetamine-mediated microglial apoptosis. Exposure of BV-2 cells to methamphetamine induces cell apoptosis through its cognate receptor σ-1R, fol Read More

Obesity is a world-wide health problem that requires different experimental perspectives to understand the onset of this disease, including the neurobiological basis of food selection. From a molecular perspective, obesity has been related with activity of several endogenous molecules, including the mitogenactivated protein kinases (MAP-K). The aim of this study was to characterize MAP-K expression in hedonic and lear Read More