Preface

The second volume of the eBook series entitled: “Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research – Central Nervous System” comprises five chapters in cutting edge fields. In the first chapter, Micheli etal highlight the potential of nucleic acids as drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. Till date, various types of nucleic acidbased therapeutics have been proposed. This chapter demonstrates the rationale and current status of nucleic acid-based strategies for treating Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

In the second chapter, Marcos Arturo Martínez Banaclocha discusses the current pharmacological interventions available for treating neurodegenerative diseases and brain aging. The author highlights the role of oxidised proteins at the cysteine residues in some neurodegenerative diseases and in aging.

Kazuo Abe focuses on non-motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease along with the pharmacological therapies to tackle the disease in the third chapter. In the fourth chapter, Anderson and Maes discuss melatonin interactions with the a7nAChR. In the last chapter of this eBook, Norman discusses another important disease of the Central Nervous System i.e. Major Depressive Disorder. The author highlights the pharmacological properties of some novel drugs and evaluates their efficacy critically.

I would like to thank all the contributors for their work and cooperation and would also like to appreciate all the technical staff of Bentham Science Publishers, especially, Mr. Mahmood Alam (Director Publications), Mr. Shehzad Naqvi (Senior Manager Publications) and Dr. Faryal Sami (Assistant Manager Publications) for their hard work and dedication.