CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - CNS & Neurological Disorders) - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2006

The first glycobiology investigation into neurological disorders showed that ganglioside was a novel glycolipid in the brain of a Tay-Sachs patients in 1939. In the 1960's or later, the finding led to further glycobiology studies into neurological disorders. Advances in this area have continued at a steady rate during most of the twentieth century, based on investigations into the interactions of the highly complicated carbohydrate st Read More

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disorder dividing into two forms, early onset familial and late onset sporadic forms. Early onset genetic cases (familial AD (FAD)) constitute about 10% of all AD cases. Heretofore, highly fibrillinogenic and pathological Aβ peptide formation is regarded as the fundamental molecular basis for this disorder. Recent enormous efforts to find out a pathogenesis, howeve Read More

Numerous reports indicate that lipid or protein associated carbohydrates are essential for infection of cells by various viruses, bacteria, or bacterial toxins, some of which affect the nervous system. Examples of such pathogens include tetanus and botulinum neurotoxin, Shiga and Shiga-like toxins, Borrelia burgdorferi, Mycobacterium leprae, and human immunodeficiency virus. This review discusses evidence indicating that c Read More

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), characterized by acute progressive limb weakness and areflexia, is the prototype of postinfectious autoimmune diseases. Campylobacter jejuni is the most frequently identified agent of infection in GBS patients, often preceding acute motor axonal neuropathy (AMAN), a variant of GBS. Anti-GM1, anti-GM1b, anti- GD1a, and anti-GalNAc-GD1a IgG antibodies are associated with AMAN. Carbohydr Read More

Lysosomal diseases comprise a group of inherited disorders resulting from defects of lysosomal enzymes and their cofactors, and in many of them the nervous system is affected. Recently, enzyme replacement therapy with recombinant lysosomal enzymes has been clinically available for several lysosomal diseases. Such enzyme replacement therapies can improve non-neurological disorders but is not effective for neurolo Read More

The mammalian central nervous system is organized by a variety of cells, such as neurons and glial cells, that are generated from a common progenitor, the neural stem cell (NSC). NSCs are defined as undifferentiated neural cells that are characterized by their high proliferative potential while retaining the capacity for self-renewal and multipotency. NSCs and their progeny may be distinguished by the expression of glycoc Read More

Glycobiology, broadly defined as the study of sugars in living systems, is becoming increasingly important for understanding the basic biology of the central nervous system (CNS) and diagnosing and devising new treatments for neurological disorders. Decades of research have uncovered many roles for both glycolipids and glycoproteins in the proper functioning of the brain; moreover many diseases are characterized by abnor Read More

At the present time, 160 human glycogenes encoding glycosyltransferases and sulfotransferases, which add sulfate to carbohydrates, have been cloned and analyzed for their substrate specificity. Mice have almost all genes orthologous to them, and some are specifically expressed in neuronal tissues. In this review, neurological disorders of mice deficient for the glycogenes that synthesize interesting carbohydrate epit Read More

Antipsychotic drugs (APD) are widely prescribed for the treatment of schizophrenia. The APD are differentiated into typical and atypical based on the lower incidence of extra-pyramidal side-effects associated with the newer atypical APD. It was suggested that atypicality may arise from an interaction with the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)2 receptor and specifically on the 5-HT2:dopamine D2 affinity ratio. It is now realised tha Read More

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) and the related urocortin peptides mediate behavioral, cognitive, autonomic, neuroendocrine and immunologic responses to aversive stimuli by activating CRF1 or CRF2 receptors in the central nervous system and anterior pituitary. Markers of hyperactive central CRF systems, including CRF hypersecretion and abnormal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis functioning, have been identified i Read More