An update on the potential role of excitotoxicity in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease

Blandini, Fabio (2010) An update on the potential role of excitotoxicity in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. Functional Neurology; New Trends in Interventional Neurosciences, 25 (2). pp. 65-71. ISSN 1971-3274

PDF portiere.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Repository staff only Download (714kB)

Abstract

The primary cause of the neurodegenerative process that underlies Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still unknown. Different mechanisms probably contribute to triggering neuronal death in the nigrostriatal pathway, including mitochondrial defects, oxidative stress and proteolytic stress. Glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity may be a further contributor. Glutamate is the predominant fast excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and, in the presence of specific conditions, a potential neurotoxin. Although excitotoxicity per se is unlikely to act as a major causative agent in PD pathogenesis, glutamate-mediated intracellular changes may contribute, in a more subtle way, to the mechanisms that trigger the neurodegenerative process in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). It is, therefore, likely that synergistic interactions between mitochondrial defects, oxidative stress and glutamatergic stimulation take place at the SNc level. These interactions may create the conditions for the development of the nigrostriatal damage that characterizes PD

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Glutamate, NMDA, mitochondria, oxidative stress, subthalamic nucleus, substantia nigra
Subjects:	600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici) > 616 Malattie (classificare qui la Clinica medica, la medicina basata sull'evidenza, la Medicina interna, la Medicina sperimentale) > 616.8 Malattie del sistema nervoso e disturbi mentali (Classificare qui la Neuropsichiatria, la Neurologia) 600 Tecnologia - Scienze applicate > 610 Medicina e salute (Classificare qui la tecnologia dei servizi medici) > 616 Malattie (classificare qui la Clinica medica, la medicina basata sull'evidenza, la Medicina interna, la Medicina sperimentale) > 616.8 Malattie del sistema nervoso e disturbi mentali (Classificare qui la Neuropsichiatria, la Neurologia) > 616.83 Altre malattie organiche del sistema nervoso centrale (Include la corea ed i disturbi coreici ad eccezione della malattia di Huntington (in 616.851) (Classificare qui, in 616.83, le malattie dei gangli vasali, del midollo spinale) > 616.833 Malattia di Parkinson (Include il parkinsonismo post-encefalitico)
Depositing User:	Danilo Dezzi
Date Deposited:	05 Jan 2012 18:05
Last Modified:	02 May 2017 12:32
URI:	http://eprints.bice.rm.cnr.it/id/eprint/3527

Actions (login required)

View Item