New insights into the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and protein aggregation in Parkinson's disease - PubMed (original) (raw)

Review

. 2010 Nov;1802(11):935-41.

doi: 10.1016/j.bbadis.2010.07.014. Epub 2010 Jul 30.

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Review

New insights into the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and protein aggregation in Parkinson's disease

Weilin Xie et al. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2010 Nov.

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Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder that affects increasing number of elderly in the world population. The disease is caused by a selective degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta with the molecular mechanism underlying this neurodegeneration still not fully understood. However, various studies have shown that mitochondrial dysfunction and abnormal protein aggregation are two of the major contributors for PD. In fact this notion has been supported by recent studies on genes that are linked to familial PD (FPD). For instance, FPD linked gene products such as PINK1 and parkin have been shown to play critical roles in the quality control of mitochondria, whereas α-synuclein has been found to be the major protein aggregates accumulated in PD patients. These findings suggest that further understanding of how dysfunction of these pathways in PD will help develop new approaches for the treatment of this neurodegenerative disorder.

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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