Immunomodulatory effects of Calcitriol in acute spinal cord injury in rats.

Pharmacological therapy options for spinal cord injury (SCI) in acute phase have so far been limited, thus we focused on Calcitriol, FDA-approved biologically active form of vitamin D whose neuroprotective effects are increasingly recognized, to ameliorating damage following acute SCI in rats. Calcitriol (1 μg/kg) treatment for 7 consecutive days after SCI was compared SCI control and Sham control rat groups. Calcitriol-treated group had significantly improved outcome in standard functional recovery evaluation test (BBB) 12 weeks after SCI compared to SCI control, which was confirmed by increased ventral horn motor neurons in Calcitriol-treated group.

Modulation of ERK1/2 and Akt Pathways Involved in the Neurotrophic Action of Caffeic Acid Alkyl Esters.

Neurodegenerative diseases affect millions of human lives all over the world. The number of afflicted patients is rapidly growing, and disease-modifying agents are urgently needed. Caffeic acid, an important member of the hydroxycinnamic acid family of polyphenols, has considerable neurotrophic effects.

Preference of Aerosolized Pirfenidone to Oral Intake: An Experimental Model of Pulmonary Fibrosis by Paraquat.

Background: Inhalation drug delivery is a fast, effective, and safe route of delivering medication directly to the lungs. Thanks to the large surface area and highly vascularized epithelium in lung, pulmonary drug delivery has been considered as an effective route to deliver drugs to the systemic circulation. Pirfenidone (PF), an oral antifibrotic agent, has been shown to slow down the progression of the lung fibrosis.

Derivatives of caffeic acid, a natural antioxidant, as the basis for the discovery of novel nonpeptidic neurotrophic agents.

Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, threaten the lives of millions of people and the number of affected patients is constantly growing with the increase of the aging population. Small molecule neurotrophic agents represent promising therapeutics for the pharmacological management of neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, a series of caffeic acid amide analogues with variable alkyl chain lengths, including ACAF3 (C3), ACAF4 (C4), ACAF6 (C6), ACAF8 (C8) and ACAF12 (C12) were synthesized and their neurotrophic activity was examined by different methods in PC12 neuronal cells.

Discovery of neurotrophic agents based on hydroxycinnamic acid scaffold.

The number of people affected by neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is rapidly increasing owing to the global increase in life expectancy. Small molecules with neurotrophic effects have great potential for management of these neurological disorders. In this study, different (C1-C12) alkyl ester derivatives of hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs) were synthesized (a total of 30 compounds).