[Value of the experiment for developmental neurology]

Some neurological diseases cannot be at present efficiently treated, because of their unknown pathogenesis and the lack of appropriate drugs. The etiology of autism is not known and there is no drug for ameliorating basal symptoms of this disease. Some research was conducted to obtain an adequate rodent model of autism in which potential drugs can be studied. Therapeutic action of psychostimulant drugs in the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are known for years, but because of their addictive properties, decision about their clinical use in a child is not easy. The precise recognition of their mechanism of action and determination of the maximal but safe doses should facilitate making the correct decision. Only about 70% children suffering from epilepsy are efficiently treated with one drug, while in the remaining the use of two or more drugs is necessary, which increases the the risk of side effects. Clinically more effective classical antiepileptic drugs can disturb cognitive functions in the child, therefore, on the basis of the present knowledge the experiments are under way with the aim of receiving drugs with strong anticonvulsant properties but without serious side effects. The introduction of efficient neuroprotective drugs, which may ameliorate secondary neuronal cell damage in various brain regions to the therapy is the main aim of numerous experimental works. At present it seems that neurotrophic factors can be useful but they must be administered centrally. Transplantations of transfected cells capable of producing neurotrophic factors or stem cells to the brain may be in the future an efficient method for improving brain function.