Erythropoietin - a novel concept for neuroprotection

Neuroprotection as a means to prevent or oppose pathological neuronal loss in central nervous system disease of various pathophysiological origins rep resents a novel therapeutic approach. This approach is supported by extensi ve experimental evidence on cell culture and animal studies demonstrating b eneficial effects of growth factors on neuronal survival and functional rec overy. The clinical use of neuroprotective agents has been hampered by the toxicity of many of the compounds that showed promising therapeutic potenti al in animal studies. The focus of this review is on a novel neuroprotectiv e approach with erythropoietin, a hematopoietic growth factor that: 1) is e xpressed in the human central nervous system, 2) is hypoxia-inducible, 3) h as demonstrated remarkable neuroprotective potential in cell culture and an imal models of disease, 4) has multiple protective effects (antiapoptotic, neurotrophic, antioxidant, angiogenic), and 5) is a clinically extremely we ll tolerated compound.