As has been demonstrated in numerous studies, the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer (AD), Parkinson (PD), Huntington diseases, vascular and frontotemporal (FTD) dementias, begins 10–20 y prior to the clinical manifestation. Although molecular mechanisms behind various neurodegenerative diseases are different, many processes, e.g., neurite retraction, dysfunction and d...

It is unsurprising that our understanding of the role of selenium in neurological function is somewhat immature, considering its relatively recent discovery as an essential element to human health. Selenocysteine, the 21st amino acid, is the defining feature of the 25 selenoprotein-encoding genes so far discovered within the human genome. The low abundance of these proteins in the brain belies ...

1.1 Neurodegeneration involve different cell types Neurodegeneration is a complex process involving different cell types and neurotransmitters. A common characteristic of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis, Huntington’s disease (HD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the occurrence of a neuroinflammatory reaction in...

One way to think about neurodegenerative diseases is to divide them into those that are and those that are not typically associated with dementia. For example Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is while amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or certain movement disorders are typically not associated with dementia. This talk will focus on neurodegeneration that is associated with dementia in the elderly. There are...

cloned and characterized from mammalian tissues, the seven transmembrane G protein-coupled cannabinoid receptors type 1 (CB1 receptor), [5] and type 2 (CB2 receptor) [6]. Whereas the CB1 receptor expression is abundant in the central nervous system, the CB2 receptor is almost exclusively expressed in the immune system. The CB1 receptor is also expressed in peripheral nerve terminals and various...

Mitochondrial ferritin (FtMt) is a novel protein encoded by an intronless gene mapped to chromosome 5q23.1. Ferritin is ubiquitously expressed; however, FtMt expression is restricted to specific tissues such as the testis and the brain. The distribution pattern of FtMt suggests a functional role for this protein in the brain; however, data concerning the roles of FtMt in neurodegenerative disea...

Tau deposition is found in a variety of neurodegenerative brain diseases. The identification of tau mutations that cause familial dementia demonstrated that aberrant Tau alone could cause neurodegenerative disease and suggested that Tau likely plays a role in other cases in which Tau deposits are found, most notably Alzheimer disease. The mechanisms by which tau mutations cause neurodegeneratio...

Neurodegenerative diseases likely share common underlying pathobiology. Although prior work has identified susceptibility loci associated with various dementias, few, if any, studies have systematically evaluated shared genetic risk across several neurodegenerative diseases. Using genome-wide association data from large studies (total n = 82,337 cases and controls), we utilized a previously val...

We examined oral calculation in patients with corticobasal degeneration (CBD; N=17), frontotemporal dementia (FTD; N=17), and Alzheimer's disease (AD; N=20), as well as 17 healthy seniors matched for age and education. Our calculation model involves at least three components: numerosity, combinatorial processes, and executive resources such as working memory. We assessed addition, subtraction, ...