Drug Des Dev Ther
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Chemical burns take up a high proportion of burns admissions and can penetrate deep into tissues. Various reagents have been applied in the treatment of skin chemical burns; however, no optimal reagent for skin chemical burns currently exists. The present study investigated the effect of topical body protective compound (BPC)-157 treatment on skin wound healing, using an alkali burn rat model. ⋯ Moreover, further studies suggested that BPC-157 regulated the phosphorylation level of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) as well as its downstream targets, including c-Fos, c-Jun, and Egr-1, which are key molecules involved in cell growth, migration, and angiogenesis. Altogether, our results indicated that BPC-157 treatment may accelerate wound healing in a model of alkali burn-induced skin injury. The therapeutic mechanism may be associated with accelerated granulation tissue formation, reepithelialization, dermal remodeling, and collagen deposition through ERK1/2 signaling pathway.
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The aim of this study was to make a scientometric assessment of drug discovery efforts centered on pain-related molecular targets. The following scientometric indices were used: the popularity index, representing the share of articles (or patents) on a specific topic among all articles (or patents) on pain over the same 5-year period; the index of change, representing the change in the number of articles (or patents) on a topic from one 5-year period to the next; the index of expectations, representing the ratio of the number of all types of articles on a topic in the top 20 journals relative to the number of articles in all (>5,000) biomedical journals covered by PubMed over a 5-year period; the total number of articles representing Phase I-III trials of investigational drugs over a 5-year period; and the trial balance index, a ratio of Phase I-II publications to Phase III publications. Articles (PubMed database) and patents (US Patent and Trademark Office database) on 17 topics related to pain mechanisms were assessed during six 5-year periods from 1984 to 2013. ⋯ A promising development related to the new tool of molecular targeting, ie, monoclonal antibodies, for pain treatment has not yet resulted in real success. This approach has not yet demonstrated clinical effectiveness (at least with nerve growth factor) much beyond conventional analgesics, when its potential cost is more than an order of magnitude higher than that of conventional treatments. This scientometric assessment demonstrated a lack of real breakthrough developments.
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Migraine, a complex debilitating neurological disorder is strongly associated with potassium channel subfamily K member 18 (KCNK18). Research has emphasized that high levels of KCNK18 may be responsible for improper functioning of neurotransmitters, resulting in neurological disorders like migraine. In the present study, a hybrid approach of molecular docking and virtual screening were followed by pharmacophore identification and structure modeling. ⋯ We propose that selected compounds may be more potent than the previously listed drug analogs based on the binding energy values. Further analysis of these inhibitors through site-directed mutagenesis could be helpful for exploring the details of ligand-binding pockets. Overall, the findings of this study may be helpful for designing novel therapeutic targets to cure migraine.