title: Vasoactive intestinal peptide family as a therapeutic target for Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder with no effective protective treatment, characterised by a massive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the subsequent loss of their projecting nerve fibres in the striatum. Because current treatments for PD are not effective, considerable research has been focused recently on a number of regulatory molecules that regulate inflammation characteristic of PD, induce neurotrophic and survival factors and reduce oxidative stress. Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a neuropeptide with a potent anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic and neurotrophic effect, has been found to be protective in several inflammatory disorders. This review examines the putative protective effect of VIP and analogues in different models for PD. VIP emerges as a potential valuable neuroprotective agent for the treatment of pathological conditions in the CNS, such as PD, in which inflammation-induced neurodegeneration occurs.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Parasitologia y Biomedicina, CSIC, Avd. Conocimiento sn, PT Ciencias de la Salud, Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Rey
authors.forename: Alejo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chorny
authors.forename: Amelia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Martin
authors.forename: Nieves
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Varela
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Delgado
mesh_terms: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide / Q000819:agonists* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000978:Antiparkinson Agents; D014660:Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide