The Role of Ruthenium Compounds in Neurologic Diseases: A Minireview.

Ruthenium compounds, nitric oxide donors in biologic systems, have emerged as a promising therapeutic alternative to conventional drugs in anticancer chemotherapy and as a potential neuroprotective agent with fewer cytotoxic effects. This minireview summarizes promising studies with ruthenium complexes and their roles in cancer, neuroinflammation, neurovascular, and neurodegenerative diseases. The up-to-date evidence supports that ruthenium-based compounds have beneficial effects against gliomas and other types of brain cancers, reduce motor symptoms in models of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion, and may act in the control of nociceptive and inflammatory events, such as those seen in early Alzheimer's disease.