It has been approved for diabetes for a couple of years, so your doc could prescribe it tomorrow.



1: J Neurol Sci. 2008 Aug 15;271(1-2):131-6. Epub 2008 May 27.

The CRF-like peptide urocortin produces a long-lasting recovery in rats made
hemiparkinsonian by 6-hydroxydopamine or lipopolysaccharide.

Abuirmeileh A, Harkavyi A, Kingsbury A, Lever R, Whitton PS.

Department of Pharmacology, The School of Pharmacy, 29-39 Brunswick Square,
London WC1N 1AX, UK.

We have recently observed that the corticotropin releasing factor related peptide
urocortin (UCN) reverses key features of nigrostriatal neurodegeneration
following intracerebral injection of either 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or
lipopolysaccharide (LPS). To determine the potential therapeutic utility of UCN
here we have studied whether these effects are sustained for several weeks
following peptide injection. In addition we have studied whether UCN still shows
efficacy in rats with more pronounced nigrostriatal lesions. Rats were lesioned
using 6-OHDA or LPS and injected with UCN either 7 or 14 days later. At different
time points animals were tested for rotational behaviour (apomorphine, 0.5 mg/kg)
and subsequently implanted with bilateral dialysis probes into the striata. The
following day rats were dialysed to estimate extracellular striatal dopamine (DA)
and then sacrificed for estimation of striatal tissue DA and subsequent
immunohistochemistry of TH(+) cells in the substantia nigra (SN). Toxin treated
rats given UCN 7 days later showed clear evidence of reduced nigrostriatal damage
both 28 and 84 days following UCN compared with saline injection. In rats given
UCN 14 days after toxin injection, by which time deficits were maximal, a
restoration of nigrostriatal damage was observed. This suggests that UCN is able
to elicit a sustained restoration of functional nigrostriatal integrity and has
the ability to produce a recovery in severely lesioned rats. These findings
suggest that stimulation of CRF (probably CRF(1)) receptors could have
therapeutic utility in PD.


PMID: 18508084 [PubMed - in process]