cAMP

Cyclic adenosine-3’, 5’-monophosphate (cAMP) is the second messenger in the intracellular signal cascade, which is synthesis from adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by adenylyl cyclase. In the brain, cAMP signaling is involved in a multitude of mechanisms in neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia. Examples are signal transduction in synapses, communication between neurons and glia cells or inflammatory processes. Alternations of cAMP affect normal brain functions; hence making cAMP a potential biomarkers for Parkinson’s diseases, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (1, 2).