Strategies to limit brain injury and promote recovery of function

Neurotoxicology integrates the best aspects of pharmacology, neuroscience, and toxicology and has established unique approaches, questions, and model systems. It has contributed to (i) isolating the multitude of environmental factors that damage the nervous system, (ii) characterizing the nature of the insult in both developing and mature organisms, and (iii) identifying the populations at risk. These efforts have symbolized the scope of modern neurotoxicology but there is now a growing appreciation that neurotoxicology, neurology, and biological psychiatry share common interests that are based upon a set of unified conceptual questions. The unifying goals for all of these disciplines are to discern the biology of neural insult, its functional consequences, and the extent and underlying mechanisms of recovery of function. While research is beginning to unravel the biology of neurological disorders there is a widening gap between our understanding of the substrates of these diseases and our ability to prevent or treat them. A concerted effort must be mounted to develop new and appropriate treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. The vulnerability of the hippocampus to a broad spectrum of insults (cerebrovascular insufficiency, excitotoxins, age-related neurodegenerative disorders, drugs of abuse) and its involvement in cognitive function makes it a logical focal point for the study of the behavioral and neurobiological correlates of recovery of function. This article discusses models of neurodegeneration and different therapeutic strategies that might limit injury or promote recovery of function.