[The feasibility of synthetic enhancer substances for preventive nanotherapy]

Abstract

Nanotechnology, the great promise of the 21st century, may revolutionize also the art of healing. Previously unexpected broadening of diagnostic procedures and methods to deliver specific drugs acting in lower than nanomolecular concentrations right to the target cells may play a crucial role in the rapid development of preventive medicine. In this context, (-)-deprenyl/selegiline, a drug developed 40 years ago and still world-wide used to treat Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and depression, by enhancing the activity of catecholaminergic neurons in the brain stem via a previously unknown mechanism [catecholaminergic activity enhancer (CAE) effect], is a highly promising experimental tool for further research in this direction. The same fits for (-)-BPAP, the newly developed enhancer substance, 100 times more potent than (-)-deprenyl, which in contrast to the latter is not only an enhancer of the catecholaminergic neurons but also of the serotonergic neurons in the brain stem. Tiny amounts of enhancer substances are closed in liposomes and marked with a specific signal to help identify the exact location of the target cells, through the activation of which the drug exerts its specific enhancer effect. The method also offers an approach to better understand the up-to-the-present unknown mechanism of the enhancer effect.