AUTHOR=Yimer Ebrahim M. , Hishe Hailemichael Zeru , Tuem Kald Beshir 

TITLE=Repurposing of the β-Lactam Antibiotic, Ceftriaxone for Neurological Disorders: A Review

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2019

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2019.00236

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2019.00236

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=So far there is no cure or disease-modifying agents available for most of the well-known
neurological disorders and therapy is typically focused on relieving symptoms and supportive care
to improve the quality of life of the patients. Besides, the traditional de novo drug discovery
technique, particularly for neurological disorders, is more challenging hence repurposing of
existing drugs for these conditions are supposed to be an efficient and dynamic approach that can
substantially reduce the investment spent during drug development. Currently, there is emerging
evidence that suggests the potential of a beta-lactam antibiotic, ceftriaxone to alleviate the
symptoms of different experimentally-induced neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s
disease, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, epileptic-seizure, brain ischemia,
traumatic brain injuries, and neuropathic pain. Ceftriaxone also affects the markers of oxidative
status and neuro-inflammation, glutamatergic systems as well as various aggregated toxic proteins
involved in the pathogenesis of different neurological disorders. Moreover, ceftriaxone
administration to animal models of drug dependency was found to improve the withdrawal
symptoms upon drug discontinuation. Thus, this review aimed to describe the effects of ceftriaxone
against multiple models of neurological illnesses, drug dependency, and withdrawal. It also
emphasizes the possible mechanisms of neuroprotective actions of ceftriaxone with respective
neurological maladies.