Todd Golde, Leonard Petrucelli
Prion diseases are disorders of protein conformation in which PrPC, the normal cellular conformer, is converted to an abnormal, protease-resistant conformer rPrPSc. Approximately 80% of rPrPSc accumulates in neur...
Synapse loss is an early and invariant feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and there is a strong correlation between the extent of synapse loss and the severity of dementia. Accordingly, it has been proposed t...
While peripheral immune access to the central nervous system (CNS) is restricted and tightly controlled, the CNS is capable of dynamic immune and inflammatory responses to a variety of insults. Infections, tra...
The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has become an intensely studied model organism, and worm studies have made significant contributions to developmental biology and other fields. The experimental advantages...
Extensive genetic, biochemical, and histological evidence has implicated the amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis, and several mechanisms have been suggested, such as metal binding, react...
While numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, the theory of oxidative stress has received considerable support. Alt...
Calcium is a key signaling ion involved in many different intracellular and extracellular processes ranging from synaptic activity to cell-cell communication and adhesion. The exact definition at the molecular...
Autophagy is the major pathway involved in the degradation of proteins and organelles, cellular remodeling, and survival during nutrient starvation. Autophagosomal dysfunction has been implicated in an increas...
Since the identification of tau as the main component of neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies, and the discovery that mutations in the tau gene cause frontotemporal dementia, ...
α-Synuclein is a small protein that has special relevance for understanding Parkinson disease and related disorders. Not only is α-synuclein found in Lewy bodies characteristic of Parkinson disease, but also m...
Despite major advances in our understanding of the initiating factors that trigger many neurodegenerative disorders, to date, no novel disease-modifying therapies have been shown to provide significant benefit...