Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Development to Face Neurodegenerative Threads
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Medicinal Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2025 | Viewed by 68
Special Issue Editors
Interests: organic synthesis; medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry; small molecule synthesis; multistep synthesis; enantiomer; fluorine chemistry; sodium channels
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: medicinal chemistry; drug discovery; chirality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
According to recent studies, neurodegenerative diseases are one of the main causes of disability and death worldwide. They are characterized by age-dependent neuronal depletion in the central nervous system and are often accompanied by the accumulation of misfolded proteins, oxidative stress induction, and neuroinflammation. The most common neurodegenerative disorders are Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Unfortunately, due to the undefined pathogenesis and the multifaceted nature of neurodegenerative disorders, most pharmacological treatments are mainly symptomatic rather than disease-modifier. Moreover, different side effects are observed, often including sedation, dizziness, and nausea. Despite all the research efforts, the identification of new drugs more potent and with safer profiles is an unmet need.
This Special Issue on “Small molecule drug discovery and development to face neurodegenerative threads” aims to collect both original research articles and reviews on recent advances in the identification of synthetic, semi-synthetic, or naturally occurring small molecules as potential drug candidates to alleviate brain cell damage.
Dr. Maria Maddalena Cavalluzzi
Dr. Giovanni Lentini
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- neurodegenerative diseases
- neuroprotection
- drug discovery
- synthesis of pharmaceutically relevant compounds
- isolation and identification of biologically active natural products
- in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo biological evaluation
- molecular docking
- drug repositioning
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