University Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India.
Med Res Rev. 2018 Jul;38(4):1126-1158. doi: 10.1002/med.21458. Epub 2017 Jul 11.
Neurodegeneration is a complex process, which leads to progressive brain damage due to loss of neurons. Despite exhaustive research, the cause of neuronal loss in various degenerative disorders is not entirely understood. Neuroprotective steroids constitute an important line of attack, which could play a major role against the common mechanisms associated with various neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Natural endogenous steroids induce the neuroprotection by protecting the nerve cells from neuronal injury through multiple mechanisms, therefore the structural modifications of the endogenous steroids could be helpful in the generation of new therapeutically useful neuroprotective agents. The review article will keep the readers apprised of the detailed description of natural as well as synthetic neuroprotective steroids from the medicinal chemistry point of view, which would be helpful in drug discovery efforts aimed toward neurodegenerative diseases.
神经退行性变是一个复杂的过程，由于神经元的丧失会导致进行性脑损伤。尽管进行了详尽的研究，但各种退行性疾病中神经元丧失的原因仍不完全清楚。神经保护类固醇是一种重要的攻击手段，它可能在对抗与各种神经退行性疾病（如阿尔茨海默病、帕金森病、亨廷顿病和肌萎缩侧索硬化症）相关的常见机制方面发挥重要作用。天然内源性类固醇通过多种机制保护神经细胞免受神经元损伤，从而诱导神经保护作用，因此内源性类固醇的结构修饰可能有助于生成新的具有治疗用途的神经保护剂。这篇综述文章将使读者了解从药物化学角度来看天然和合成神经保护类固醇的详细描述，这将有助于针对神经退行性疾病的药物发现工作。
