Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most common age-related neurodegenerative disease, results in abnormalities in motor functioning. Many fundamental questions regarding its aetiology remain unanswered. Pathologically, it is not until 70–80% of the dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta are lost before clinical symptoms are observed. Thus research into PD is complicated by this apparent paradox in that what appears to be the beginning of the disease at the clinical level is really the end point neurochemically. Consequently, we can only second guess when the disease started and what initiated it. The causation is probably complex, with contributions from both genetic and environmental factors. Intracellular proteinaceous inclusions, Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, found in surviving dopaminergic neurons, are the key pathological characteristic of PD. Their presence points to an inability within these terminally differentiated cells to deal with aggregating proteins. Recent advances in our knowledge of the underlying disease process have come about from studies on models based on genes associated with rare hereditary forms of PD, and mitochondrial toxins that mimic the behavioural effects of PD. The reason that dopaminergic neurons are particularly sensitive may be due to the additional cellular stress caused by the breakdown of the inherently chemically unstable neurotransmitter, dopamine. In the present review, I discuss the proposal that in sporadic disease, interlinked problems of protein processing and inappropriate mitochondrial activity seed the foundation for age-related increased levels of protein damage, and a reduced ability to deal with the damage, leading to inclusion formation and, ultimately, cell toxicity.
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Review Article|
June 12 2008
Protein stability and aggregation in Parkinson's disease
Philip A. Robinson
Philip A. Robinson
1
1Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Leeds, Wellcome Trust Brenner Building, St. James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF, U.K.
1email p.a.robinson@leeds.ac.uk.
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
February 04 2008
Revision Received:
April 22 2008
Accepted:
April 22 2008
Online ISSN: 1470-8728
Print ISSN: 0264-6021
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2008 Biochemical Society
2008
Biochem J (2008) 413 (1): 1–13.
Article history
Received:
February 04 2008
Revision Received:
April 22 2008
Accepted:
April 22 2008
Citation
Philip A. Robinson; Protein stability and aggregation in Parkinson's disease. Biochem J 1 July 2008; 413 (1): 1–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BJ20080295
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