DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is grounded in the surprising discovery that hexacosanol and analogues and homologs thereof, including saturated and unsaturated straight chain alcohols of preferably from about 23 to about 29 carbon atoms, or prodrug esters thereof, exhibit powerful neurotrophic and neuroprotective effects in vivo on neurons.
Not only does this material facilitate extension of neurites in vivo, it also facilitates healing of traumatic injury to both the central and peripheral nervous systems, by increasing extension of neural processes, facilitating reconnection and reestablishment of function, decreasing ischemia and neuronal death, and reducing Wallerian degeneration after injury.
Moreover, the compounds of the present invention are useful in the treatment or prevention of neural degeneration, including neurodegenerative diseases and neuron loss or damage related to chemical or environmental factors and injury from excitatory amino acids, such as glutamic acid and other endogenous materials.
Moreover, the compounds of the present invention, unlike previously described neurotrophic materials, can cross the blood-brain barrier, making them much more useful in the treatment of neurons of the central nervous system.
Thus, the present invention provides a method for treating or preventing neuronal injury in vivo, comprising the step of administering to a mammal a pharmaceutically effective amount of a long-chain fatty alcohol having from about 23 to about 29 carbon atoms, or prodrug esters thereof.
Thus, the present invention provides a method for treating injured neurons in a mammal, comprising the step of administering in vivo a therapeutically effective amount of a long-chain fatty alcohol having from about 23 to about 29 carbon atoms, or prodrug esters thereof.
The injury treated can be traumatic injury, chemical injury, or injury due to disease or congenital condition.
Diseases in which the present invention is believed to be applicable include Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Chorea, other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Epilepsy and Parkinson's Disease, developmental diseases of the CNS such as Cerebral Palsy, some aging processes of the brain, and perhaps even genetic disorders such as Down's Syndrome
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Gene Therapy 
