cells Review Potential Drug Candidates to Treat TRPC6 Channel Deficiencies in the Pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s Disease and Brain Ischemia Veronika Prikhodko 1,2,3, Daria Chernyuk 1 , Yurii Sysoev 1,2,3,4, Nikita Zernov 1, Sergey Okovityi 2,3 and Elena Popugaeva 1,* 1 Laboratory of Molecular Neurodegeneration, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251 St. Petersburg, Russia;
[email protected] (V.P.);
[email protected] (D.C.);
[email protected] (Y.S.);
[email protected] (N.Z.) 2 Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, Saint Petersburg State Chemical Pharmaceutical University, 197022 St. Petersburg, Russia;
[email protected] 3 N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 197376 St. Petersburg, Russia 4 Institute of Translational Biomedicine, Saint Petersburg State University, 199034 St. Petersburg, Russia * Correspondence:
[email protected] Received: 31 August 2020; Accepted: 20 October 2020; Published: 24 October 2020 Abstract: Alzheimer’s disease and cerebral ischemia are among the many causative neurodegenerative diseases that lead to disabilities in the middle-aged and elderly population. There are no effective disease-preventing therapies for these pathologies. Recent in vitro and in vivo studies have revealed the TRPC6 channel to be a promising molecular target for the development of neuroprotective agents. TRPC6 channel is a non-selective cation plasma membrane channel that is permeable to Ca2+. Its Ca2+-dependent pharmacological effect is associated with the stabilization and protection of excitatory synapses. Downregulation as well as upregulation of TRPC6 channel functions have been observed in Alzheimer’s disease and brain ischemia models.