Involvement of Osmolytes in the Pathophysiology of Various Human Diseases

Environmental stress in the form of hyperosmolarity (due to high salt concentrations and urea) affects the survival of all forms of life on earth. To evade these deleterious environmental assaults, the cells utilize small low molecular weight molecules, referred as osmolytes. Apart from protecting the cells from stress conditions, numerous other roles of these small molecules have been well documented in the literature. Owing to their emerging role in cellular homeostasis, these osmolytes have been implicated in pathophysiology of several diseases, especially in protein conformational diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, diabetes and even cancer. The present chapter summarizes the implications of osmolytes, primarily being protein folders, in the pathophysiology of several important protein misfolding diseases along with their potential as disease markers. Moreover, future insights about their importance as therapeutic targets is also highlighted.