Scientific publication by researchers from the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ljubljana (UL FFA) in the prestigious journal in the field of interdisciplinary pharmaceutical sciences, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B

Damijan Knez, Anže Meden and Stanislav Gobec from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry (UL FFA) published in collaboration with members of the Department of Pharmaceutical Biology (Anja Pišlar, Janko Kos), the Department of Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics (Simon Žakelj), and international partners from Spain, France, Italy and Poland published a scientific paper entitled »8-Hydroxyquinolylnitrones as multifunctional ligands for the therapy of neurodegenerative diseases« in the prestigious journal in the field of interdisciplinary pharmaceutical sciences Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica (IF = 14.903).

The complex pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases involving multiple processes makes effective therapy with drugs acting specifically on a target enzyme or structural protein impossible. The alternative is so-called multifunctional ligands that act simultaneously on multiple target proteins, opening the possibility of more effective therapy for neurodegenerative diseases. In this multidisciplinary study, the authors discovered a compound that inhibits two enzymes involved in Alzheimer's disease, namely butyrylcholinesterase and monoamine oxidase B. Structural and kinetic experiments were used to investigate the mechanism of action of the compound, and cell-based assays confirmed its neuroprotective effects. This multifunctional inhibitor improved the cognitive functions and memory of mice with induced symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and also effectively reduced the accumulation of amyloid plaques in transgenic mice.