Experimental Brain Ischemic Preconditioning: A Concept to Putative Targets

Neurodegeneration is the progressive loss of central neurons which may instigate many disabling psychological and neurological disorders like Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, parkinson's disease, prion's disease, and Huntington's disease. It has become imperative to address the need to discover novel molecular targets and therapeutic strategies to combat neurodegeneration. It is more essential to do so, because most of the accessible treatment focuses on correcting the symptoms of such diseases rather than its underlying pathophysiology. In the present article, we sought to discuss plausible connections between brain ischemic preconditioning and protective measures against chemical neurotoxicity. Brain ischemic preconditioning is reported to be effective against stroke like conditions and is studied chiefly to identify culpable molecular targets. Similarly chemical stressors are reported to be effective in preconditioning neuronal cells against chemical neurotoxicity. Keeping the concept of cross-tolerance in mind this article encompasses the putative targets of both chemical preconditioning and ischemic preconditioning in search for a suitable connection based on the published literature. The distinctive groups of targets are individually discussed and principal targets such as oncogene Akt, glycogen synthase kinase 3-beta and heat shock proteins are emphasised. Identification of these targets may help to develop sophisticated newer therapeutic strategies to cure neurodegenerative disorders.