a view into neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases bahareh eftekharzadeh laboratory of dr....

A view into Neurodegeneration and A view into Neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseasesneurodegenerative diseases

Bahareh Eftekharzadeh

Laboratory of Dr. Xavier SalvatellaSemesterI

Crazy about Biomedicine 2013

Brain With Alzheimer's Disease


How the Brain and Nerve Cells Change During Alzheimer's Disease

Medical illustration showing how the brain and nerve cells change during Alzheimer's


Plaques and Tangles in Alzheimer`s disease


How the Brain and Nerve Cells Change During Alzheimer's Disease?



Brain With Parkinson's Disease

Substantia Nigra: substantia nigra appear darker than neighboring areas due to high levels of melanin in dopaminergic neurons and Parkinson's disease is characterized by the death of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra.


How the Brain and Nerve Cells Change During Parkinson's Disease

Medical illustration showing how the brain and nerve cells change during Parkinson's

Comparison between a normal brain and a diseased brain

Alpha-synuclein aggregates are responsible for neuronal dead in brain cells


An example of tremor in Parkinson's Disease

Medical illustration showing how the brain and nerve cells are affected during Parkinson's

Substantia nigra is an important player in brain function, in particular, in eye movement, motor planning, reward-seeking, learning.

Cerebral aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases are toxic.

signature of Alzheimer’s disease: 1.Extracellular amyloid plaques2.Intracytoplasmic neurofibrillary tangles

Intracytoplasmic aggregates are typically present in the neurons of people affected by Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Intranuclear inclusions of huntingtin are observed in Huntington’s disease patients and extracellular prion amyloid plaques that are located in different brain regions are present in some cases of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy.Crazy about Biomedicine 2013

In spite of the different protein In spite of the different protein compositions, the ultrastructure of these compositions, the ultrastructure of these deposits seems to be similar and deposits seems to be similar and composed mainly of a network of fibrillar composed mainly of a network of fibrillar polymers.polymers.


Now the question is:Now the question is:

how these aggregates form how these aggregates form in the cells and what initiates in the cells and what initiates the aggregation the aggregation formation????formation????

Introduction in protein structure Introduction in protein structure equilibrium equilibrium



Schematic representation of the pathway leading to protein misfolding and aggregation

1.The natively folded protein, normally produced in diverse cell types, adopts a random coil or α-helical conformation.

2. In the elderly brain, the first pathological step would be the formation of a misfolded intermediate that exposed to the aqueous environment hydrophobic fragments that are normally buried inside the protein.

3. This intermediate has a high tendency toaggregate and become stabilized, in a rate-limiting process, by the formation of an oligomeric β-sheet structure, which by incorporation of additional monomers gives rise to protofibrils and finally to cross-β amyloid-like fibrils.


Schematic representation of different therapeutic strategies to arrest protein misfolding and aggregation

1. Stabilization of the folding of the native protein.

1. Stabilization of the folding of the native protein.

1. Inhibition and reversal of protein misfolding by compounds that can specifically destabilize β-sheet structures.

1. Competitive inhibition of protein oligomerization by compounds that bind to the monomeric protein.

1. Competitive inhibition of aggregation by molecules that bind to aggregated β-sheets and block further incorporation of monomers.

2. Increased clearance of the misfolded/aggregated protein by compounds that boost clearance mechanisms or decrease the stability of protein aggregates.


The benefits of animal models for studying the diseases

Different approaches to study Neurodegeneration:

How can we generate the transgenic animals?



How transgenic animals can be studied in an example?



2. Biochemical approaches to study neurodegeneration

What is Alzheimer’s diseases???


Discussion

How do you see the future of the neurodegenerative disease’s research?

Which approaches will answer more questions?

What is the role of Pharmaceutical companies in developing new drugs?

Who plays more important role in solving the questions in Alzheimr’s and Parkinson’s diseases? The scientists or industry?

What is your next step, if you would like to stay in this field of research?…

a view into neurodegeneration and neurodegenerative diseases bahareh eftekharzadeh laboratory of dr....

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