LAUSR

The section on treatment deals with various aspects of Parkinson’s (PD) and Alzheimer’s diseases (AD) therapy, which has been one of the main aspects of Peter Riederer’s scientific research interests. The first chapter by Youdim describes the novel approach for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease constituting the design of multi-target drugs. These are brain permeable iron chelators to which is attached carbamate pseudo acetyl and butyrylcholinesterase and monoamine oxidase (MAO) A and B inhibitory moieties. It is possible that AD is siderosis of the brain since iron is accumulated in the hippocampus dentate gyrus and nucleus basileus. The increased activity of mitochondrial MAO in AD may lead to increased production of hydrogen peroxide which can inter-act with iron to induce the Fenton reaction and generation of neurotoxic reactive hydroxyl radical, with the resultant oxidative stress. Thus, chelation of iron and the inhibition of MAO are important. Cholinesterase inhibition is associ-ated with increased cognition and the deficit in cholinergic activity can be offset by inhibition of the enzyme. and colleagues discuss PD not