title: Neurotrophic factors for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a slowly progressive disorder with no known etiology. Pathologically, there is a loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra that project to the striatum. Current available therapies for PD are targeted to the restoration of striatal dopamine. These approaches may alleviate symptoms transiently, but fail to slow the progression of disease. One emergent therapeutic approach is the use of neurotrophic factors to halt or reverse the loss of dopaminergic neurons. There have been intensive research efforts both preclinically and clinically testing the efficacy and safety of neurotrophic factors for the treatment of PD. In this review, we discuss the neuroprotective and neuroregenerative properties of various trophic factors, both old and recent, and their status as therapeutic molecules for PD.
authors.affiliation: Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chiocco
authors.forename: Brandon K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Barry J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Hoffer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D004298:Dopamine