Neuroprotection: A New Therapeutic Approach of Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Neurodegenerative changes occurring early from primary acute immune-mediated inflammation support the hypothesis that multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease. Axonal loss progresses with the disease course and represents the principal driver of disability. In this context, the pursuit of neuroprotective therapies in multiple sclerosis provides new valid alternatives that could significantly impact on disease progression and neurodegenerative changes, including the promotion of restoration of myelin sheaths through the remyelination process. This chapter reviews promising drugs with proposed neuroprotective or neuroregenerative effects that are currently approved or in clinical trials for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Although the chapter highlights the diazoxide action on neuroinflammation and the results of a clinical trial with this drug, the review also includes other molecules with oral or parenteral administration.