Mitochondria and Neurodegeneration

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 87-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Petrozzi ◽  
Giulia Ricci ◽  
Noemi J. Giglioli ◽  
Gabriele Siciliano ◽  
Michelangelo Mancuso

Many lines of evidence suggest that mitochondria have a central role in ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases. However, despite the evidence of morphological, biochemical and molecular abnormalities in mitochondria in various tissues of patients with neurodegenerative disorders, the question “is mitochondrial dysfunction a necessary step in neurodegeneration?” is still unanswered. In this review, we highlight some of the major neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington's disease) and discuss the role of the mitochondria in the pathogenetic cascade leading to neurodegeneration.

Author(s):  
Edward Poluyi ◽  
Eghosa Morgan ◽  
Charles Poluyi ◽  
Chibuikem Ikwuegbuenyi ◽  
Grace Imaguezegie

Abstract Background Current epidemiological studies have examined the associations between moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and their risks of developing neurodegenerative diseases. Concussion, also known as mild TBI (mTBI), is however quite distinct from moderate or severe TBIs. Only few studies in this burgeoning area have examined concussion—especially repetitive episodes—and neurodegenerative diseases. Thus, no definite relationship has been established between them. Objectives This review will discuss the available literatures linking concussion and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Materials and Methods Given the complexity of this subject, a realist review methodology was selected which includes clarifying the scope and developing a theoretical framework, developing a search strategy, selection and appraisal, data extraction, and synthesis. A detailed literature matrix was set out in order to get relevant and recent findings on this topic. Results Presently, there is no objective clinical test for the diagnosis of concussion because the features are less obvious on physical examination. Absence of an objective test in diagnosing concussion sometimes leads to skepticism when confirming the presence or absence of concussion. Intriguingly, several possible explanations have been proposed in the pathological mechanisms that lead to the development of some neurodegenerative disorders (such as ALS and AD) and concussion but the two major events are deposition of tau proteins (abnormal microtubule proteins) and neuroinflammation, which ranges from glutamate excitotoxicity pathways and inflammatory pathways (which leads to a rise in the metabolic demands of microglia cells and neurons), to mitochondrial function via the oxidative pathways. Conclusion mTBI constitutes majority of brain injuries. However, studies have focused mostly on moderate-to-severe TBI as highlighted above with inconclusive and paucity of studies linking concussion and neurodegenerative disorders. Although, it is highly probable that repetitive concussion (mTBI) and subconcussive head injuries may be risk factors for ALS) and AD from this review. It will be imperative therefore to conduct more research with a focus on mTBI and its association with ALS and AD.


Author(s):  
Nicolas Ruffini ◽  
Susanne Klingenberg ◽  
Susann Schweiger ◽  
Susanne Gerber

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are heterogeneous, progressive diseases with frequently overlapping symptoms characterized by a loss of neurons. Studies suggested relations between neurodegenerative diseases for many years, e.g., regarding the aggregation of toxic proteins or triggering endogenous cell death pathways. Within this study, publicly available genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data were gathered from 188 studies and more than one million patients to detect shared genetic patterns between the neurodegenerative diseases and the analyzed omics-layers within conditions. The results show a remarkably high number of shared genes between the transcriptomic and proteomic levels for all diseases while showing a significant relation between genomic and proteomic data only in some cases. A set of 139 genes was found to be differentially expressed in several transcriptomic experiments of all four diseases. These 139 genes showed overrepresented GO-Terms and pathways mainly involved in stress response, cell development, cell adhesion, and the cytoskeleton. Furthermore, the overlap of two and three omics-layers per disease were used to search for overrepresented pathways and GO-Terms. Taken together, we could confirm the existence of many relations between Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis on the transcriptomic and proteomic level by analyzing the pathways and GO-Terms arising in these intersections. The significance of the connection between the transcriptomic and proteomic data for all four analyzed neurodegenerative diseases showed that exploring these omics-layers simultaneously holds new insights that do not emerge from analyzing these omics-layers separately. Our data therefore suggests addressing human patients with neurodegenerative diseases as complex biological systems by integrating multiple underlying data sources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 1223
Author(s):  
Andrea Tarozzi

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of several different neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs), such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS) [...]


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen N. Hernández-Candia ◽  
Sarah Pearce ◽  
Chandra L. Tucker

AbstractDynamic membraneless compartments formed by protein condensates have multifunctional roles in cellular biology. Tools that inducibly trigger condensate formation have been useful for exploring their cellular function, however, there are few tools that provide inducible control over condensate disruption. To address this need we developed DisCo (Disassembly of Condensates), which relies on the use of chemical dimerizers to inducibly recruit a ligand to the condensate-forming protein, triggering condensate dissociation. We demonstrate use of DisCo to disrupt condensates of FUS, associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and to prevent formation of polyglutamine-containing huntingtin condensates, associated with Huntington’s disease. In addition, we combined DisCo with a tool to induce condensates with light, CRY2olig, achieving bidirectional control of condensate formation and disassembly using orthogonal inputs of light and rapamycin. Our results demonstrate a method to manipulate condensate states that will have broad utility, enabling better understanding of the biological role of condensates in health and disease.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 2642
Author(s):  
Nicolas Ruffini ◽  
Susanne Klingenberg ◽  
Susann Schweiger ◽  
Susanne Gerber

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are heterogeneous, progressive diseases with frequently overlapping symptoms characterized by a loss of neurons. Studies have suggested relations between neurodegenerative diseases for many years (e.g., regarding the aggregation of toxic proteins or triggering endogenous cell death pathways). We gathered publicly available genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data from 177 studies and more than one million patients to detect shared genetic patterns between the neurodegenerative diseases on three analyzed omics-layers. The results show a remarkably high number of shared differentially expressed genes between the transcriptomic and proteomic levels for all conditions, while showing a significant relation between genomic and proteomic data between AD and PD and AD and ALS. We identified a set of 139 genes being differentially expressed in several transcriptomic experiments of all four diseases. These 139 genes showed overrepresented gene ontology (GO) Terms involved in the development of neurodegeneration, such as response to heat and hypoxia, positive regulation of cytokines and angiogenesis, and RNA catabolic process. Furthermore, the four analyzed neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) were clustered by their mean direction of regulation throughout all transcriptomic studies for this set of 139 genes, with the closest relation regarding this common gene set seen between AD and HD. GO-Term and pathway analysis of the proteomic overlap led to biological processes (BPs), related to protein folding and humoral immune response. Taken together, we could confirm the existence of many relations between Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis on transcriptomic and proteomic levels by analyzing the pathways and GO-Terms arising in these intersections. The significance of the connection and the striking relation of the results to processes leading to neurodegeneration between the transcriptomic and proteomic data for all four analyzed neurodegenerative diseases showed that exploring many studies simultaneously, including multiple omics-layers of different neurodegenerative diseases simultaneously, holds new relevant insights that do not emerge from analyzing these data separately. Furthermore, the results shed light on processes like the humoral immune response that have previously been described only for certain diseases. Our data therefore suggest human patients with neurodegenerative diseases should be addressed as complex biological systems by integrating multiple underlying data sources.


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