Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 13, Issue 2, 2016

Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia among the elderly and is characterized by progressive loss of memory and cognition. Amyloid-ß-peptide (Aß) forms senile plaques, which, together with hyperphosphorylated tau-based neurofibrillary tangles, are the hallmarks of AD neuropathology. Evidence support the involvement of immune system in AD progression and current concepts regardin Read More

Plenty of evidence has shown that an enhanced oxidative or nitrosative stress may play a central role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The suppressive effect of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) against oxidative/nitrosative stressinduced injury in nervous tissues has recently received increasing interest. A number of human experimental studies have concurr Read More

The role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis and progression of neurodegenerative illnesses such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases has become prominent over the years. Increased activity of the enzymes that produce reactive oxygen species, decreased activity of antioxidant enzymes and imbalances in glutathione pools mediate and mark the neurodegenerative process. Much of the oxidative damage of prot Read More

The unfolded protein response (UPR) plays a vital role in maintaining cell homeostasis as a consequence of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. However, prolonged UPR activity leads to cell death. This time-dependent dual functionality of the UPR represents the adaptive and cytotoxic pathways that result from ER stress. Chronic UPR activation in systemic and neurodegenerative diseases has been identified as an early Read More

Proteins are constantly exposed to environmental stressors such as free radicals and heat shock leading to their misfolding and later to aggregation. In particular mitochondrial proteins are challenged by reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to the oxidative metabolism of the organelle. Protein aggregation has been associated with a wide variety of pathological conditions called proteopathies. However, for the Read More

Heme is essential for the survival of most organisms, despite the fact of being potentially toxic. This dual effect is due to the ability of the iron (Fe) atom contained within the protoporphyrin ring of the heme molecule to participate in redox reactions and exchange electrons with a variety of substrates. Therefore, the pro-oxidant reactivity of heme needs to be kept under control, an effect achieved by its incorporation into the Read More

The aetiology of major neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still unknown, but increasing evidences suggest that glutamate and mitochondria are two prominent players in the oxidative stress (OS) process that underlie these illnesses. Although AD and PD have distinct pathological and clinical features, OS is a common mechanism contributing to neuronal damage. Glut Read More

The human brain is the most cholesterol-rich organ harboring 25% of the total cholesterol pool of the whole body. Cholesterol present in the central nervous system (CNS) comes, almost entirely, from the endogenous synthesis, being circulating cholesterol unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Astrocytes seem to be more active than neurons in this process. Neurons mostly depend on cholesterol delivery from nearby cell Read More

Reactive oxygen species play a physiological role in cell signaling and also a pathological role in diseases, when antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed causing oxidative stress. However, in this review we will focus on reductive stress that may be defined as a pathophysiological situation in which the cell becomes more reduced than in the normal, resting state. This may occur in hypoxia and also in several diseas Read More