Current Pharmaceutical Design - Volume 21, Issue 30, 2015

Manufactured tobacco contains over 4, 000 toxic substances, but only a few exert adverse cardiovascular effects. Nicotine and its metabolites, carbon monoxide, thiocyanate and some aromatic amines play a strong, although different, role to determine cardiovascular damage. Of these substances, however, nicotine, acting by the double mechanism of addiction and receptor-binding, and carbon monoxide by increasing t Read More

The incidence of renal complications including kidney failure is on the rise. Moreover, with aging of the population and the high incidence of diabetes, hypertension and obesity, this trend may prevail. An important cytoprotective enzyme that has been shown to improve renal function is heme-oxygenase (HO). HO is known to abate apoptosis and necrosis, and improves cell vitality, which in turn, may enhance tissue regen Read More

From the discovery of protease activated receptors (PARs) to the development of first clinically available PAR1 antagonist (vorapaxar) more than two decades of continuous research have passed. There are four different types of PARs named as PAR1, 2, 3 and 4 having a unique mechanism of signaling. These receptors are present in different organs, including the cardiovascular system. Presence of PARs in heart and blood ves Read More

The rising incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) has stimulated researches to identify novel therapeutic options for such most common and refractory cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice. Rhythm control strategy is shown to be associated with a lower risk of progression to permanent AF and greater clinical benefit as compared with rate control. Remarkable progress has been witnessed in rhythm control strategy particularly Read More

Moderate exercise is an effective and economic way to prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases. Unlike pathological cardiac growth, exercise-induced cardiac growth, excluding extreme strenuous exercise, does not cause cardiac cell death, fibrosis, and cardiac dysfunction. The balanced cardiomyogenesis (cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and hyperplasia) and neo-angiogenesis are essential determinants for exercise-induced Read More

Antisense oligonucleotide therapy is a growing field in cardiac, metabolic, and muscular diseases. This precision therapy allows for treatment of diseases due to specific genetic defects. Antisense has few side effects and is relatively long lasting. Some major targets for antisense therapy include hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and hypercholesterolemia. ISIS Pharmaceuticals recently commercialized antisense therapy with Read More

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), primarily myocardial infarction (MI), atherosclerosis, hypertension and congestive heart failure symbolize the foremost cause of death in almost all parts of the world. Besides the traditional therapeutic approaches for the management of CVDs, newer innovative strategies are also emerging on the horizon. Recently, gene silencing via small interfering RNA (siRNA) is one of the hot topics Read More

Cardiovascular disorders or cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are major illness associated with heart and blood vessels. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), generated during excessive oxidative stress, are responsible for the pathophysiology of various cardiovascular disorders including atherosclerosis, cardiac hypertrophy, cardiomyopathy, heart failure, ventricular remodeling, ischemia/reperfusion injury and myocardial Read More

In the last couple of decades antioxidant agents have entered the health market as an easy and attractive means of managing diseases. These agents are of enormous interest for an increasingly health-concerned society, and may be particularly relevant for prophylaxis of a number of diseases i.e. arthritis, cancer, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, cataracts, brain disorders, etc. Antioxidants are also Read More

The increasing prevalence and complexity of cardiovascular diseases demand innovative strategies for diagnostic and therapeutic applications to improve patient care/prognoses. Additionally, various factors constrain present cardiovascular therapies, including low aqueous drug solubility, early metabolism, short half-life and drug delivery limitations. The efficient treatment of cardiovascular diseases requires improvement Read More

Cardiovascular disease (CVD), accounting around 30% of deaths worldwide, collectively comprised of disorders affecting the heart and blood vessels as well as their associated adverse conditions. Despite outstanding progress in the area of the treatments of CVDs, significant challenges remain in designing of efficient delivery systems for myocardial therapy. Moreover, current therapy for CVDs is limited due to various cli Read More

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Atherosclerotic situations such as acute myocardial infarction(MI) and stroke are still major causes of death worldwide. Present therapeutic approaches based on conventional drug delivery systems are not efficient to control these disorders. With the technological advancement and intervention of nanotechnology, several fascinating Read More

Heparin, a well known drug for anticoagulant therapy and prophylaxis of deep vein thrombosis and coronary syndromes, is also involved in numerous pathological processes such as inflammation, immune cell migration, tumor cell metastasis, smooth muscle cell proliferation etc. Though heparin is a clinically used anticoagulant with minimal side effects and drug interactions, its clinical use is limited due to parenteral admi Read More

In the last two decades, dendrimers have proven their capabilities in drug delivery, physical stabilization of the drug, solubility enhancement of the poorly soluble drugs and gene delivery. Several key features of dendrimers such as excellent control over molecular structure, nanoscopic size, availability of multiple functional groups at the periphery and narrow polydispersity index distinguish them as a superior choice over avai Read More