TY - JOUR
T1 - Lipid rafts
T2 - Keys to neurodegeneration
AU - Schengrund, Cara Lynne
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - The increase in life expectancy seen in many countries has been accompanied by an increase in the number of people living with dementia and a growing need for health care. The large number of affected individuals emphasizes the need to identify causes for the phenotypes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's, and those caused by prions. This review addresses the hypothesis that changes in lipid rafts induced by alterations in their ganglioside and/or cholesterol content or the interaction of mutant proteins with them provide the keys to understanding the onset of neurodegeneration that can lead to dementia. The biological function(s) of raft-associated gangliosides and cholesterol are discussed prior to reviewing what is known about their roles in lipid rafts in the aforementioned diseases. It concludes with some questions that need to be addressed in order to provide investigators with the basis for identifying small molecule agonists or antagonists to test as potential therapeutics.
AB - The increase in life expectancy seen in many countries has been accompanied by an increase in the number of people living with dementia and a growing need for health care. The large number of affected individuals emphasizes the need to identify causes for the phenotypes associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Huntington's, and those caused by prions. This review addresses the hypothesis that changes in lipid rafts induced by alterations in their ganglioside and/or cholesterol content or the interaction of mutant proteins with them provide the keys to understanding the onset of neurodegeneration that can lead to dementia. The biological function(s) of raft-associated gangliosides and cholesterol are discussed prior to reviewing what is known about their roles in lipid rafts in the aforementioned diseases. It concludes with some questions that need to be addressed in order to provide investigators with the basis for identifying small molecule agonists or antagonists to test as potential therapeutics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952320968&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2010.02.013
DO - 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2010.02.013
M3 - Review article
C2 - 20206240
AN - SCOPUS:77952320968
SN - 0361-9230
VL - 82
SP - 7
EP - 17
JO - Brain Research Bulletin
JF - Brain Research Bulletin
IS - 1-2
ER -