Novel models for Parkinson's disease and their impact on future drug discovery.

Novel models for Parkinson's disease and their impact on future drug discovery.

Expert Opin Drug Discov. 2018 Jan 24;:1-11

Authors: Trigo-Damas I, Del Rey NL, Blesa J

Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Parkinson's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects millions of elderly individuals worldwide. Despite intensive efforts dedicated to find a better treatment, the pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease remains unknown. In search for a better therapy for the disease, several new in vivo and in vitro models of Parkinson´s disease have been developed in recent times. Areas covered: The authors provide an outline of the various traditional models of Parkinson´s disease and address those that have been recently generated. They also discuss the utility of these models for the identification of drugs of potential therapeutic value for Parkinson´s Disease patients. From the cell based models and the well-known toxin-based animal models, to the recent genetic models and the increasingly used non-mammalian models, every model is worthwhile in the search for a better Parkinson´s Disease therapy. Expert opinion: Almost 60 years after its discovery, levodopa is still the gold standard treatment for Parkinson's Disease patients. It seems unlikely that a single model can fully recapitulate the complexity of Parkinson's Disease in the same way it appears improbable that a unique treatment could relieve both the motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's Disease altogether. Therefore treatment will probably require a combination of therapies.

PMID: 29363335 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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