Brain disorders

Dimephosphone (12.138a) is used in neurosurgery and for the treatment of cerebro-vascular brain disorder and hemorrhagic strokes, etc. Psilocybin (12.138b) is a psychedelic drug found in Mexican mushrooms. 

Interest has centred on the possible use of water-soluble phosphazene polymers (Section 12.15) as carrier molecules for drugs, enzymes and other bioactive agents. Attachment of a chemotherapeutic ageut to a suitable polymer may achieve targeting of the drug ou a specific site within the body, and secure controlled release. Such a carrier molecule should (a) be water soluble at physiological pH 7.0, aud (b) be degradable into small non-toxic molecules which can subsequently be eliminated from the body [30,31]. 

Allcock has shown that bioactive molecules such as benzocaine or procaine (12.139a) and certain steroids (12.139b) can be attached to the side chain by reaction with a simple water-soluble polymer of type (12.139c) or (12.139d). 

Another possible method of introducing bioactive molecules is to place them in the pores of calcium phosphate implant materials (Section 12.14) [32]. 

Calcium glycerophosphate (and Na or K salts) finds use as dietary supplements. 

---

Development of MMP null mice carrying specific MMP deletions has provided an opportunity to explore the role of MMPs in normal development as well as in such diverse conditions and diseases as skeletal dysplasias, coronary artery and heart disease, arthritis, cancer, and brain disorders. 

How the different neurotransmitters may be involved in the initiation and maintenance of some brain disorders, such as Parkinson s disease, epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and dementia, as well as in the sensation of pain, is then evaluated and an attempt made to see how the drugs which are used in these conditions produce their effect by modifying appropriate neurotransmitter function (section C). The final section (D) deals with how neurotransmitters are involved in sleep and consciousness and in the social problems of drug use and abuse. 

Wrona, M.Z., Dryhurst, G. Oxidation of serotonin by superoxide radical implications to neurode-generative brain disorders. Chem. Res. Toxicol. 11 639, 1998. 

Neurodegeneration Localised or widespread death of neurons, a feature of a number of brain disorders, such as Alzheimer s disease, Parkinson s disease and cerebrovascular stroke. It can also be caused by neurotoxic drugs like MDMA/Ecstasy, although there is debate over whether this occurs in humans as well as laboratory animals. 

Oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species is described for many other brain disorders of inflammatory and noninflammatory nature. Some examples of such disorders are given below. Quick and Dugan [326] demonstrated superoxide-mediated damage of neurons... 

Strange, P. G. (1992) Brain biochemistry and brain disorders. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. 

Fernandez-Novoa, L., Cacabelos, R. (2001) Histamine function in brain disorders. Behav. Brain Res., 124, 213-233. 

The brightest side of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors is their use in the treatment of Alzheimer s disease, AD, a progressive brain disorder, named for Alois Alzheimer, who first described it early in the twentieth century. 

The main acute effect is inebriation, which in turn spawns violence, spousal and child abuse, crime, motor vehicle accidents, workplace and home accidents, drowning, suicide, and accidental death. The chronic effects include alcoholism, liver disease, various forms of cancer, brain disorders, cardiovascular disease and other organ system effects, absence from or loss of work, family dysfunction, and malnutrition. 

Scientists discovered that some patients who had received human growth disorder hormone from cadavers had died of a rare brain disorder... 

If the balance between excitatory and inhibitory activity is shifted pharmacologically in favour of GABAergic transmission, then anxiolysis, sedation, amnesia and ataxia arise. On the other hand, an attenuation of the GABAergic system results in arousal, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, exaggerated reactivity and even seizures. These pharmacological manifestations point to the contribution of inhibitory neurotransmission to the pathophysiology of brain disorders. A GABAergic deficit is particularly apparent in anx-... 

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a brain disorder involving the frontal-subcortical circuits. Environmental, genetic, and clinical factors interact in a complex fashion in the individual patient. This chapter will examine OCD from a neurobiological perspective. The characteristics of OCD that are of specific relevance to this topic are listed in Table 12.1. 

Howard, Pierce J. The Owner s Manual for the Brain Everyday Applications from Mind-Brain Research, 3rd ed. Austin, Tex. Bard Press, 2006. With scientific research as its starting point, this book discusses how the present state of knowledge in brain science can have a practical impact on human lives. A wide variety of topics are discussed, including brain chemistry, the effects of drugs, brain disorders, learning and memory, and much else. 

Psychotic syndromes as sequelae of organic brain disorders (e.g. old age... 

Neurodegenerative Disorders and Neurotrophic Growth Factors. Not only can psychiatric illness result if synapses are malformed early in life, but brain disorders can also occur if normal healthy synapses are inappropriately interrupted late in life. Thus, the brain may regress from the potential it had realized and result in various types of dementia (Fig. 4—10). A milder form of this may occur in normal aging, if it... 

---