Tachykinins covers this most thoroughly investigated family of neuropeptides, whose members and receptors have been characterized at the genetic and molecular level and whose pharmacology has now been advanced to the first clinical application.

In this book, particular emphasis is laid on the development of selective non-peptide antagonists for all 3 tachykinin receptors and their potential as novel drugs in a variety of diseases.

The approval of the first tachykinin receptor antagonist as an antiemetic drug is particularly highlighted, and the utility of tachykinin receptor antagonists in affective disorders, chronic obstructive airway disease and irritable bowel syndrome, to name a few indications, is extensively considered.

Contents

• History of a Pioneering Neuropeptide: Substance P
• The Tachykinin Peptide Family, with Particular Emphasis on Mammalian Tachykinins and Tachykinin Receptor Agonists
• The Histochemistry of Tachykinin Systems in the Brain
• The Nomenclature of Tachykinin Receptors
• The Mechanism and Function of Agonist-Induced Trafficking of Tachykinin Receptors
• Tachykinin NK1 Receptor Antagonists
• Tachykinin NK2 Receptor Antagonists
• Tachykinin NK3 Receptor Antagonists
• Combined Tachykinin NK1, NK2, and NK3 Receptor Antagonists
• Pre-protachykinin and Tachykinin Receptor Knockout Mice
• Therapeutic Potential of Tachykinin Receptor Antagonists in Depression and Anxiety Disorders
• The Role of Tachykinins and the Tachykinin NK1 Receptor in Nausea and Emesis
• Substance P (NK1) Receptor Antagonists—Analgesics or Not?
• Role of Tachykinins in Neurogenic Inflammation of the Skin and Other External Surfaces
• Role of Tachykinins in Obstructive Airway Disease
• Role of Tachykinins in the Gastrointestinal Tract

Index

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