The Use of Animal Neuropeptides in the Treatment of Neurological Diseases

The challenge of the effective treatment of neurological diseases continues to be relevant. Russian neurological practice has used drugs from the neuropeptides group for more than 20 years. The physiological activity of neuropeptides is many times greater than that of non-peptide compounds. Neuropeptides include drugs prepared from animal brains and their synthetic analogs. These drugs differ from each other not only in terms of composition, but also in having different mechanisms of action, though marked neurotrophic and neuroreparative effects are common to all. Large peptides and amino acids act on the principle of replacement therapy; minipeptides affect the nuclear erythroid factor signaling system and bind to molecular targets, and are bioregulators. A specific characteristic of bioregulators is the ability to prolong their action and change their predominant mechanism in response to physiological need. They are regarded as SMART peptides, with high selectivity and efficacy, are safe for use, and are capable of potentiating the effects of other drugs.