title: Neuroprotection: Present and future.
abstract: The treatment of brain diseases (regardless of the latter's neurological or psychiatric expression) is based on either preventive, symptomatic or etiopathogenic approaches. The frequent observation of neuronal death during brain disease initially prompted researchers to favour neuroprotection for the etiopathogenic approach. The repeated failure to develop reliable neuroprotective agents has prompted emergence of the concept of "disease modifyer". The disease modifyer concept (based essentially on clinical endpoints) enables us to envisage the broader application of etiopathogenic treatments by freeing ourselves of the need to demonstrate a cellular mechanism of action. The formalization of disease modification prompts several lines of thought, which are developed in the present article.
authors.affiliation: EA1046-Département de Pharmacologie Médicale, Institut de Médecine Prédictive et de Recherche Thérapeutique, Faculté de Médecine de l'Université Lille 2 & Centre Hospitalier et Universitaire de Lille, Lille, France. r-bordet@chru-lille.fr
authors.forename: Régis
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bordet
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lestage
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Onteniente
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D035843:Biomedical Research; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D006801:Humans; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents