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Tuesday March 4 6:23 PM EST Guilford( Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc ) drug grows nerves in animal tests BALTIMORE, March 4 (Reuter) - Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday preliminary research showed one of its compounds could protect nerves from damage and cause brain cells to regenerate in animal models of central nervous system and peripheral nerve damage. Animal tests by Guilford scientists indicated that the compound GPI-1046 promoted both visible and functional recovery in models of both peripheral nerve injury and Parkinson's disease, the company said. Their results were published in volume 94 of the National Academy of Sciences (U.S.A.) journal, it said. GPI-1046 was an orally active ligand -- part of a group of so-called neuroimmunophilins -- synthesized by Guilford which promoted nerve growth when it binds to certain proteins commonly found in nerve cells, it said. In a mouse model of Parkinson's disease, GPI-1046 showed a neuroprotectant effect on the nigral-striatal dopamine system, an area of the brain damaged in Parkinson's disease, the company said the studies showed. "These results suggest that neuroimmunophilin ligands such as GPI-1046, may represent a significant new approach to the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease," said Peter Suzdak, vice president of research at Guilford Pharmaceuticals. In animals whose sciatic nerves were crushed, GPI-1046 accelerated functional recovery of the damaged nerves, the company said. The compound was able to regenerate the myelin sheath over the nerves, a characteristic critical to nerve re-growth and recovery of function, it said. "To our knowledge, we believe our experiments are the first demonstration of such a significant neuronal regenerative effect with an orally-active non- immunosuppressive small molecule," Suzdak said. ((New York newsdesk 212-859-1610))