Abstract

Over the past couple of decades there have been no major improvements in the treatment of either acute ischaemic stroke or one of its major complications, neurodegenerative dementia. The majority of promising clinical trials associated with attempts to protect against the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease have ended prematurely following exasperation of the condition. Citicoline has been used extensively in patient trials following stroke but strong evidence for its ability to enhance neuroprotection and improve recovery are still lacking. Following our demonstration that this molecule can also enhance angiogenesis/vascularization we hypothesized that it could benefit patients suffering from vascular dementia. Here we describe our recent findings, discuss citicoline signalling and possible links to neurovascular degradation/protection, and consider novel mathematical-biological systems methodology for the identification of potential protective/therapeutic agents against this disease.

Key words: CDP-Choline Neuroprotection, Vascular Remodeling, Vascular Dementia