Therapeutic Indications of NAAG Peptidase Inhibitors for Parkinson’s Disease

Current studies of NAAG Peptidase Inhibitors show their potential for neuroprotection of dopaminergic cells and result in a reduction in Glutamate excitotoxicity. These results reveal that NAAG Peptidase Inhibitors could assist clinicians in understanding the pathophysiology of PD leading to a more effective treatment of patients’ symptoms. They underscored some of the most historical attempts in experimental therapeutics of PD in the past decade. The futility of some of the studies should be examined in the context of the current science as discussed in our paper. A deeper understanding of NAAG Peptidase inhibition could potentially accelerate early stages of PD interventions.

Keywords:Parkinson’s disease; Metabotropic glutamate receptors; NAAG peptidase inhibitors; Neuroprotection

Abbreviations:PD: Parkinson’s Disease; L-DOPA: L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine; LID: L-DOPA Induced Dyskinesia; mGlu: Metabotropic Glutamate; NAAG: N-acetly-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate; NP: NAAG Peptidase; TGF-ꞵ: Transforming Growth Factors ꞵ; GDNF: Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor