Metal complexes in medicine and pharmacy - the past and the present III

Ceska Slov Farm. 2020 Summer;69(3):121-129.

Abstract

Bioactive metal complexes represent a promising and rapidly evolving area of pharmacotherapy. After the first part of our survey on metallopharmaceuticals dealing with antimicrobial activity of metal complexes and their application in diagnostics and the second part dedicated to anticancer properties of these compounds, this third and last part of the review focuses on several other applications of metals in therapy (mainly on the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis, some mental diseases, diabetes, as well as on chelation therapy). Following a brief account of the historical development of clinical use of the respective category of drugs, their chemical properties, toxicity, clinical applications and mechanism of action are discussed. The aim of this brief survey is to provide basic outline of the area of metallopharmacy, aimed at specialists in pharmacy and chemistry as well as at the general educated public.

Keywords: bioinorganic chemistry; chelation therapy; gold; lithium; metal complexes; metallopharma-ceuticals; vanadium.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Coordination Complexes / pharmacology*
  • Medicine / trends*
  • Metals / pharmacology
  • Pharmacy / trends*

Substances

  • Coordination Complexes
  • Metals