Mitochondrial dysfunction in genetic animal models of Parkinson's disease.

ABSTRACT:

Unlabelled

Mitochondria are highly dynamic, multifunctional organelles. Aside from their major role in energy metabolism, they are also crucial for many cellular processes including neurotransmission, synaptic maintenance, calcium homeostasis, cell death, and neuronal survival.

Significance

Increasing evidence supports a role for abnormal mitochondrial function in the molecular pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). For three decades we have known that mitochondrial toxins are capable of producing clinical parkinsonism in humans. PD is the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder that is characterized by the progressive loss of substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons leading to a deficiency of striatal dopamine. Although the neuropathology underlying the disease i

SUBMITTER: Trancikova A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3292748 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature