The kynurenine pathway as a therapeutic target in cognitive and neurodegenerative disorders.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the neurochemical basis for cognitive function is one of the major goals of neuroscience, with a potential impact on the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of a range of psychiatric and neurological disorders. In this review, the focus will be on a biochemical pathway that remains under-recognized in its implications for brain function, even though it can be responsible for moderating the activity of two neurotransmitters fundamentally involved in cognition - glutamate and acetylcholine. Since this pathway - the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan metabolism - is induced by immunological activation and stress, it also stands in a unique position to mediate the effects of environmental factors on cognition and behaviour. Targeting the pathway for new drug development could, ther

SUBMITTER: Stone TW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3831703 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature