Kynurenine pathway and disease: an overview.

Kynurenine pathway is gaining more and more attention every day in biomedical research since this catabolic route for tryptophan decomposition is not only implicated in different neurological disorders, but also possesses neuroactive metabolites with different biological properties, such as pro-oxidant and antioxidant regulators. Thus, the intensive research on this metabolic pathway is helping us to understand those mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative events during the occurrence of pathological process in the central nervous system (CNS), thereby allowing the design of potential therapies for those disorders involving excitotoxic, oxidative and inflammatory components. Here we intend to provide a brief overview on the relevance of this route for several CNS disorders, and discuss recent information on the different biological properties of the neuroactive metabolites of this pathway and their significance for further research.