Ricerc@Sapienza

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a large family of ubiquitous extracellular endopeptidases, which play important roles in a variety of physiological and pathological conditions, from the embryonic stages throughout adult life. Their extraordinary physiological “success” is due to concomitant broad substrate specificities and strict regulation of their expression, activation and inhibition levels. In recent years, MMPs have gained increasing attention as significant effectors in various aspects of central nervous system (CNS) physiology.

In the last years the continuous efforts in the development of novel and effective inhibitors of human
monoamine oxidases (hMAOs) promoted the discovery of new agents able to effectively and selectively
bound one of the two isoforms (hMAO-A and hMAO-B). However, the parent chalcone scaffold still
covers an important role in hMAOs inhibition. In the present work, we focused our attention on the
researches performed in the last five years, involving chalcones or compounds that can be correlated to

INTRODUCTION:
Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, after the initial 'golden age', are currently used as third-line antidepressants (selective MAO-A inhibitors) or clinically enrolled as co-adjuvants for neurodegenerative diseases (selective MAO-B inhibitors). However, the research within this field is always increasing due to their pivotal role in modulating synaptic functions and monoamines metabolism.
AREAS COVERED: