Preface

This current Volume 7 of Frontiers in Medicinal Chemistry is comprised of 11 chapters written by the appropriate experts in their fields of study, focusing on topics of high important in the fields of medicinal chemistry, early-stage drug discovery, target validation, and chemical biology.

The first six manuscripts are focused on topics of interest to diseases of the central nervous system. The first by Kaur et al. is on antioxidants and neuroprotection, the second by Munoz-Torrero is on acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease, the third by Ferrari-Toninelli et al. covers dopamine agonists for Parkinson’s disease, the fourth by Marassiti et al. highlights the role of oxytocin in psychiatry, the fifth by Fernandez-Busquets et al. pertains to the many proteins for which inappropriate conformation contributes to pathology such as Alzheimer’s, and the sixth by Loizzo et al. covers natural-product based cholinesterase inhibitors, also for Alzheimer’s disease. The next three reviews are in the area of infectious disease research, the first by Abbat et al. on enzyme inhibitors for the treatment of malaria, the second by Fabbri et al. on bacterial protein toxins, and the third by Sciutto et al. on a vaccine approach to cysticercosis. The next review is on liver fibrosis by Zardi, and the final chapter is by Jiang et al. on regenerative engineering.

Thanks are given to the staff of Bentham Science Publishers for their support and guidance, particularly Drs. Mahmood Alam and Matthew Honan.