| abstract |
The present invention relates to new pharmaceutical uses of 4-azasteroid compounds, in particular of Finasteride and Dutasteride and its pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives, and combinations comprising said compounds . The invention also features generally the use of a modulator compound of neuroprotective conditions via beta subunits of shaker- type voltage-gated potassium channels and/or via members of solute carriers family 25, in particular Aralar (member 12) and adenine -nucleotide translocators 1 & 2 (member 4 & 5) and/or via a 4-nitrophenylphosphatase domain and non-neurona SNAP25-like protein homolog 1 (NIPSNAP 1) as a neuroprotective medicament, particularly as a medicament for the prevention and/or treatment of neurological diseases such as dementia, Parkinson, Alzheimer, schizophrenia or epilepsy. The demonstrated inhibition of the MPTP appears to constitute a novel principle applicable to all pathological conditions which have underlying excitotoxic/mitochondrial mechanisms, like: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, depression, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, pain, Parkinson's disease, schizophrenia, traumatic brain and spinal chord injury, stroke and other ischemic conditions in the brain. |