Leonard Brian E
Pharmacology Department, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland.
World Psychiatry. 2004 Jun;3(2):84-8.
This review summarises the pharmacological properties of the main classes of drugs in current use for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease. These may be divided into two major groups: those enhancing cholinergic function which has been shown to be defective in the disease, and those which either directly or indirectly reduce free radical/inflammatory processes in the brain. To date, none of the drugs available has been shown to reverse the pathological changes associated with the disease. However, a number of drugs are in development which are designed to block the neurotoxic action of amyloid beta peptide and thereby reverse the underlying pathological processes. These include the gamma secretase inhibitors and vaccines against amyloid beta peptide. The limitations of these novel approaches are discussed.
本综述总结了目前用于阿尔茨海默病症状治疗的主要药物类别的药理学特性。这些药物可分为两大类：一类增强胆碱能功能（已证明该功能在该病中存在缺陷），另一类直接或间接减少大脑中的自由基/炎症过程。迄今为止，尚无任何可用药物被证明能逆转与该疾病相关的病理变化。然而，有多种药物正在研发中，其设计目的是阻断β淀粉样肽的神经毒性作用，从而逆转潜在的病理过程。这些药物包括γ分泌酶抑制剂和抗β淀粉样肽疫苗。文中还讨论了这些新方法的局限性。
