This book reviews advances in understanding phosphodiesterases within the central nervous system and their therapeutic applications. A range of expert authors from both academia and industry describe these, then focus on the areas of greatest scientific and medical interest to provide more detailed coverage. Therapeutic and drug discovery applications are covered for diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, schizophrenia, erectile dysfunction, and spinal cord injuries. There is also a chapter on drug discovery tools such as in vitro assays and X-ray structures for medicinal chemistry studies.

NICHOLAS BRANDON works at AstraZeneca within the Neuroscience Innovative Medicines Group. He has spent his career in drug discovery with a strong interest in developing phosphodiesterase inhibitors for neuropsychiatric disorders and understanding the basic mechanisms of phosphodiesterase function.

ANTHONY WEST is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Rosalind Franklin University. He has studied PDE function in the basal ganglia for over fifteen years, focusing on neurochemical and electrophysiological changes induced by PDE inhibitors in the healthy brain and in animal models of Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.