Peptoids: Emerging Therapeutics for Neurodegeneration

In recent decades, the increasing prevalence of age-associated neurodegenerative diseases has underscored the need for targeted therapeutic strategies and novel diagnostics. Peptide-based neurotherapeutics offer high specificity and tolerability but are limited by proteolytic degradation in vivo. Peptoids, or N-substituted glycines, are versatile peptidomimetics that evade proteolytic degradation yet maintain many qualities that render peptides attractive neurotherapeutic candidates. These molecules may be engineered to their application through modifications that enhance structural stability and reactivity and can withstand various physiological stressors to retain their intended function within anomalous microenvironments.