Articles

Neurodegenerative changes initiated by presynaptic dysfunction

α-Synucleinopathies are a subgroup of neurodegenerative diseases including dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Pathologically, these disorders can be characterized by the presence of ...

Authors: Toru Yasuda, Yasuto Nakata, Chi-Jing Choong and Hideki Mochizuki

Biological function of Presenilin and its role in AD pathogenesis

Presenilins (PSs) are the catalytic core of γ-secretase complex. However, the mechanism of FAD-associated PS mutations in AD pathogenesis still remains elusive. Here we review the general biology and mechanism...

Authors: Shuting Zhang, Mingming Zhang, Fang Cai and Weihong Song

Cytometric profiling in various clinical forms of multiple sclerosis with respect to CD21⁺, CD32⁺, and CD35⁺ B and T cells

We aimed to evaluate the frequency of various types of B and T cells expressing CD21, CD32, and CD35 in multiple sclerosis (MS) clinical courses.

Authors: Ali Zandieh, Maryam Izad, Mohammad Fakhri, Hamed Amirifard, Zahra Khazaeipour and Mohammad Hosein Harirchian

Cell based therapy in Parkinsonism

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a synucleinopathy-induced chronic progressive neurodegenerative disorder, worldwide affecting about 5 million humans. As of yet, actual therapies are symptomatic, and neuroprotectiv...

Authors: Johannes PJM de Munter, Chongsik Lee and Erik Ch Wolters

Insights on altered mitochondrial function and dynamics in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration

In neurons, mitochondria are enriched to provide energy and calcium buffering required for synaptic transmission. Additionally, mitochondria localize to the synapse, where they are critical for the mobilizatio...

Authors: Joseph McInnes

Subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease: 8 years of follow-up

The short-term benefits of bilateral stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) are well documented, but long-term benefits are still uncertain. The aim of ...

Authors: Dianyou Li, Chunyan Cao, Jing Zhang, Shikun Zhan, Shengdi Chen and Bomin Sun

Intranuclear inclusions in a fragile X mosaic male

Lack of the fragile X mental retardation protein leads to Fragile X syndrome (FXS) while increased levels of FMR1 mRNA, as those observed in premutation carriers can lead to Fragile X- associated tremor ataxia sy...

Authors: Dalyir I Pretto, Michael R Hunsaker, Christopher L Cunningham, Claudia M Greco, Randi J Hagerman, Stephen C Noctor, Deborah A Hall, Paul J Hagerman and Flora Tassone

Quantitative evaluation of severity of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia in patients with vascular dementia

To quantitatively evaluate severity of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) for vascular dementia (VD). Changes of 51 patients with VD in BPSD between the first and 24th week were assessed ...

Authors: Wei-Dong Pan, Sohei Yoshida, Qian Liu, Chun-Lan Wu, Jun Wang, Jin Zhu and Ding-Fang Cai

Clinic, neuropathology and molecular genetics of frontotemporal dementia: a mini-review

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) represents a group of clinically, neuropathologically and genetically heterogeneous disorders with plenty of overlaps between the neurodegenerative mechanism and the cl...

Authors: Xiao-dong Pan and Xiao-chun Chen

Social brain dysfunctions in patients with Parkinson’s disease: a review of theory of mind studies

Human social interaction is essential in daily life and crucial for a promising life, especially in people who suffer from disease. Theory of Mind (ToM) is fundamental in social interaction and is described as...

Authors: Rwei-Ling Yu and Ruey-Meei Wu

Annual acknowledgement of manuscript reviewers

The editors of Translational Neurodegeneration would like to thank all our reviewers who have contributed to the journal in Volume 1 (2012).

Authors: Shengdi Chen

Traditional Chinese medicine: a promising candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related neurodegenerative disorder, characterized clinically by insidious onset of memory and cognition impairment, emergence of psychiatric symptoms and behavioral disorder,...

Authors: Zhi-Kun Sun, Hong-Qi Yang and Sheng-Di Chen

Short communication: genetic variations of SLC2A9 in relation to Parkinson’s disease

Epidemiological studies showed that higher plasma urate was associated with lower risk for Parkinson’s disease (PD) and slower disease progression. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) consistently sh...

Authors: Jianjun Gao, Hong Xu, Xuemei Huang and Honglei Chen

Can we clinically diagnose dementia with Lewy bodies yet?

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) was initially identified and confirmed primarily by pathology, but is soon to be incorporated into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual criteria as a clinical disease entity. D...

Authors: Yue Huang and Glenda Halliday

Translational research in Huntington’s disease: opening up for disease modifying treatment

Research on the molecular mechanisms involved in Huntington’s disease, a monogenic disorder with a complex phenotype including motor, behaviour, and cognitive impairments, is advancing at a rapid path. Knowled...

Authors: Jean-Marc Burgunder

Changes in Timing and kinematics of goal directed eye-hand movements in early-stage Parkinson’s disease

Many daily activities involve intrinsic or extrinsic goal-directed eye and hand movements. An extensive visuomotor coordination network including nigro-striatal pathways is required for efficient timing and po...

Authors: Danya Muilwijk, Simone Verheij, Johan JM Pel, Agnita JW Boon and Johannes van der Steen

Combination of olfactory test and substantia nigra transcranial sonopraphy in the differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease: a pilot study from China

Both hyposmia and substania nigra (SN) hyperechogenicity on trascranial sonography (TCS) were risk markers for idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD), which was beneficial to the differential diagnosis of the dis...

Authors: Wei Chen, Yu-Yan Tan, Yun-Yun Hu, Wei-Wei Zhan, Li Wu, Yue Lou, Xi Wang, Yi Zhou, Pei Huang, Yuan Gao, Qin Xiao and Sheng-Di Chen

Advances in the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s Disease: Focusing on Tau-Mediated Neurodegeneration

In addition to senile plaques and cerebral amyloid angiopathy, the hyperphosphorylation of tau protein and formation of intraneuronal neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) represents another neuropathological hallmar...

Authors: Yale Duan, Suzhen Dong, Feng Gu, Yinghe Hu and Zheng Zhao

Advance in the pathogenesis and treatment of Wilson disease

Wilson disease is an autosomal recessive disorder of copper metabolism. Diagnosis depends primarily on clinical features, biochemical parameters and the presence of the Kayser-Fleischer ring. Genetic analysis ...

Authors: Qin-Yun Dong and Zhi-Ying Wu

Cognitive impairment and the associated risk factors among the elderly in the Shanghai urban area: a pilot study from China

Our study aimed to investigate the prevalence of cognitive impairment(CI) and the associated risk factors among elderly people in Shanghai urban area, China.

Authors: Jun-Peng Zhuang, Gang Wang, Qi Cheng, Li-Ling Wang, Rong Fang, Li-Hua Liu, Ran Xiong, Yu Zhang, Ya-Xing Gui, Wen-Yan Kang, Hui-Dong Tang and Sheng-Di Chen

Current advances in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease: focused on considerations targeting Aβ and tau

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that impairs mainly the memory and cognitive function in elderly. Extracellular beta amyloid deposition and intracellular tau hyperphosphorylation are t...

Authors: Yang Hong-Qi, Sun Zhi-Kun and Chen Sheng-Di

Post subthalamic area deep brain stimulation for tremors: a mini-review

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the thalamic ventrointermediate nucleus (VIM) is the traditional target for the surgical treatment of pharmacologically refractory essential tremor or parkinsonian tremor. Studi...

Authors: Tao Xie, Jacqueline Bernard and Peter Warnke

Intracellular distribution of amyloid beta peptide and its relationship to the lysosomal system

Amyloid beta peptide (Aβ) is the main component of extraneuronal senile plaques typical of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains. Although Aβ is produced by normal neurons, it is shown to accumulate in large amounts...

Authors: Lin Zheng, Angel Cedazo-Minguez, Martin Hallbeck, Fredrik Jerhammar, Jan Marcusson and Alexei Terman

Advances in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease: a re-evaluation of amyloid cascade hypothesis

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by progressive deterioration of memory, and pathologically by histopathological changes including extracellular deposits ...

Authors: Suzhen Dong, Yale Duan, Yinghe Hu and Zheng Zhao

Reduced striatal volumes in Parkinson’s disease: a magnetic resonance imaging study

The presence and extent of structural changes in the brain as a consequence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still poorly understood.

Authors: Toni L Pitcher, Tracy R Melzer, Michael R MacAskill, Charlotte F Graham, Leslie Livingston, Ross J Keenan, Richard Watts, John C Dalrymple-Alford and Tim J Anderson

Curcumin inhibition of JNKs prevents dopaminergic neuronal loss in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease through suppressing mitochondria dysfunction

Curcumin,a natural polyphenol obtained from turmeric,has been implicated to be neuroprotective in a variety of neurodegenerative disorders although the mechanism remains poorly understood. The results of our r...

Authors: Jing Pan, Hui Li, Jian-Fang Ma, Yu-Yan Tan, Qin Xiao, Jian-Qing Ding and Sheng-Di Chen

Directed migration of human neural progenitor cells to interleukin-1β is promoted by chemokines stromal cell-derived factor-1 and monocyte chemotactic factor-1 in mouse brains

Neurogenesis, including the proliferation, migration and differentiation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), is impaired in HIV-1 associated dementia (HAD). We previously demonstrated HIV-1-infected macrophages...

Authors: Yumei Wu, Qiang Chen, Hui Peng, Huanyu Dou, You Zhou, Yunlong Huang and Jialin C Zheng

Current advances in using neurotrophic factors to treat neurodegenerative disorders

Neurotrophic factors are best known for their roles in both development and continued maintenance of the nervous system. Their strong potential to elicit pro-survival and pro-functional responses in neurons of...

Authors: April M Weissmiller and Chengbiao Wu

Prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease

Symptomatic treatment during the dementia stage of Alzheimer’s disease(AD) cannot delay or halt the progression of this disease. Therefore, prevention in the preclinical stage is likely the most effective way ...

Authors: Serge Gauthier, Liyong Wu, Pedro Rosa-Neto and Jianping Jia

Anatomical correlates of blepharospasm

Focal dystonia is a neurological disorder characterized by unwanted muscle spasms. Blepharospasm is a focal dystonia producing an involuntary closure of the eyelid. Its etiology is unknown.

Authors: Silvina G Horovitz, Anastasia Ford, Muslimah Ali Najee-ullah, John L Ostuni and Mark Hallett

Premotor biomarkers for Parkinson's disease - a promising direction of research

The second most serious neurodegenerative disease is Parkinson’s disease (PD). Over the past several decades, a strong body of evidence suggests that PD can begin years before the hallmark clinical motor sympt...

Authors: Brian R Haas, Tessandra H Stewart and Jing Zhang

Drug therapy in patients with Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson`s disease (PD) is a progressive, disabling neurodegenerative disorder with onset of motor and non-motor features. Both reduce quality of life of PD patients and cause caregiver burden. This review ai...

Authors: Thomas Müller

The changing phenotype of microglia from homeostasis to disease

It has been nearly a century since the early description of microglia by Rio-Hortega; since then many more biological and pathological features of microglia have been recognized. Today, microglia are generally...

Authors: Xiao-Guang Luo and Sheng-Di Chen

RNAi-mediated knock-down of Dab and Numb attenuate Aβ levels via γ-secretase mediated APP processing

Amyloid-β-protein (Aβ), the key component of senile plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain, is produced from amyloid precursor protein (APP) by cleavage of β-secretase and then γ-secretase. APP adaptor prot...

Authors: Zhongcong Xie, Yuanlin Dong, Uta Maeda, Weiming Xia and Rudolph E Tanzi

Erythropoietin prevents PC12 cells from beta-amyloid-induced apoptosis via PI3K⁄Akt pathway

Several studies indicated that Erythropoietin (Epo) may provide remarkable neuroprotection in some neurological diseases. It also showed the significant decrease of Epo immunoreactivity in the cerebral cortex and...

Authors: Sun Zhi-Kun, Yang Hong-Qi, Wang Zhi-Quan, Pan Jing, Hong Zhen and Chen Sheng-Di

Linking restless legs syndrome with Parkinson's disease: clinical, imaging and genetic evidence

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are both common neurological disorders. There has been much debate over whether an etiological link between these two diseases exists and whether they ...

Authors: Tasneem Peeraully and Eng-King Tan

Mitochondrial neuronal uncoupling proteins: a target for potential disease-modification in Parkinson's disease

This review gives a brief insight into the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the converging pathogenic processes involved in Parkinson's disease (PD). Mitochondria provide cellular ener...

Authors: Philip WL Ho, Jessica WM Ho, Hui-Fang Liu, Danny HF So, Zero HM Tse, Koon-Ho Chan, David B Ramsden and Shu-Leong Ho

Macroautophagy in sporadic and the genetic form of Parkinson's disease with the A53T α-synuclein mutation

The A53T mutation in the α-synuclein gene causes autosomal-dominant Lewy body Parkinson's disease (PD). Cultured cell models have linked this mutation to increased cell macroautophagy, although evidence of enhanc...

Authors: Yue Huang, Fariba Chegini, Germaine Chua, Karen Murphy, Weiping Gai and Glenda M Halliday

Neuroimaging in the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease

Functional imaging may be useful for both the early diagnosis as well as preclinical detection of neurodegenerative disease. Additionally, while structural imaging has traditionally been regarded as a tool to ...

Authors: A Jon Stoessl

Norepinephrine: the next therapeutics frontier for Parkinson's disease

Tissue concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) are markedly decreased in various regions of the Parkinson's disease (PD) brain. As in the substantia nigra pars compacta, neuronal dropout and Lewy bodies are prom...

Authors: Peter A LeWitt

Translational Neurodegeneration, a platform to share knowledge and experience in translational study of neurodegenerative diseases

Authors: Shengdi Chen and Jialin C Zheng