Neurodegenerative diseases and neuroprotection: Current views and prospects

Abstract

Pathophysiological processes of neurodegenerative diseases share in common for most of them aggregation of related proteins, which represents halt marks of the degenerative processes. Recent advances in the knowledge of these proteinopathies show that the same protein could contribute to various diseases thus suggesting common pathological process. In such a way the specificity of the brain neuronal system targeted by the protein dysfunction could be the way of differential clinical expression rather than different pathological processes. This very stimulating view of the neurodegenerative diseases based on physiopathology led us to suggest possible degenerative mechanisms shared by different diseases although the causes of the disease itself still remains unclear. In this respect since genetic forms of the degenerative diseases are rather rare, exploring the involvement of genes is a current way to enter into the disease degenerative process. It is thus speculated that idiopathic forms of the diseases are related to close interactions between genetic and environmental factors, the genetic component being able to favor - or on the contrary to protect against - the disease process. Because of the current view that basic mechanism of cell death in degenerative diseases is related to a rather limited number of processes in which oxidative stress could play a central role resulting in protein dysfunction and aggregation, one can speculate that putative neuroprotective medicines could be soon proposed based on active limitation of protein accumulation in the brain. © Journal of Applied Biomedicine.