Neurodegenerative diseases represent nowadays one of the major health problems. Despite the efforts made to unveil the mechanism leading to neurodegeneration, it is still not entirely clear what triggers this phenomenon and what allows its progression. Nevertheless, it is accepted that neurodegeneration is a consequence of several detrimental processes, such as protein aggregation, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation, finally resulting in the loss of neuronal functions. Starting from these evidences, there has been a wide search for novel agents able to address more than a single event at the same time, the so‐called multitarget‐directed ligands (MTDLs). These compounds originated from the combination of different pharmacophoric elements which endowed them with the ability to interfere with different enzymatic and/or receptor systems, or to exert neuroprotective effects by modulating proteins and metal homeostasis. MTDLs have been the focus of the latest strategies to discover a new treatment for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which is considered the most common form of dementia characterized by neurodegeneration and cognitive dysfunctions. This review is aimed at collecting the latest and most interesting target combinations for the treatment of AD, with a detailed discussion on new agents with favorable in vitro properties and on optimized structures that have already been assessed in vivo in animal models of dementia.

We report the discovery of compound 4a, a potent β-lactam-based monoacylglycerol lipase (MGL) inhibitor characterized by an irreversible and stereoselective mechanism of action, high membrane permeability, high brain penetration evaluated using a human in vitro blood–brain barrier model, high selectivity in binding and affinity-based proteomic profiling assays, and low in vitro toxicity. Mode-of-action studies demonstrate that 4a, by blocking MGL, increases 2-arachidonoylglycerol and behaves as a cannabinoid (CB1/CB2) receptor indirect agonist. Administration of 4a in mice suffering from experimental autoimmune encephalitis ameliorates the severity of the clinical symptoms in a CB1/CB2-dependent manner. Moreover, 4a produced analgesic effects in a rodent model of acute inflammatory pain, which was antagonized by CB1 and CB2 receptor antagonists/inverse agonists. 4a also relieves the neuropathic hypersensitivity induced by oxaliplatin. Given these evidence, 4a, as MGL selective inhibitor, could represent a valuable lead for the future development of therapeutic options for multiple sclerosis and chronic pain.

D3 receptors represent a major focus of current drug design and development of therapeutics for dopamine-related pathological states. Their close homology with the D2 receptor subtype makes the development of D3 selective antagonists a challenging task. In this review, we explore the relevance and therapeutic utility of D3 antagonists or partial agonists endowed with multireceptor affinity profile in the field of central nervous system disorders such as schizophrenia and drug abuse. In fact, the peculiar distribution and low brain abundance of D3 receptors make them a valuable target for the development of drugs devoid of motor side effects classically elicited by D2 antagonists. Recent research efforts were devoted to the conception of chemical templates possibly endowed with a multi-target profile, especially with regards to other G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). A comprehensive overview of the recent literature in the field is herein provided. In particular, the evolution of the chemical templates has been tracked, according to the growing advancements in both the structural information and the refinement of the key pharmacophoric elements. The receptor/multireceptor affinity and functional profiles for the examined compounds has been covered, together with their most significant pharmacological applications.