scholarly journals Identification of an amino-terminal fragment of apolipoprotein E4 that localizes to neurofibrillary tangles of the Alzheimer's disease brain

2012 ◽  
Vol 1475 ◽  
pp. 106-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Troy T. Rohn ◽  
Lindsey W. Catlin ◽  
Kendra G. Coonse ◽  
Jeffrey W. Habig
Author(s):  
D.F. Clapin ◽  
V.J.A. Montpetit

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal filamentous proteins. The most important of these are amyloid fibrils and paired helical filaments (PHF). PHF are located intraneuronally forming bundles called neurofibrillary tangles. The designation of these structures as "tangles" is appropriate at the light microscopic level. However, localized domains within individual tangles appear to demonstrate a regular spacing which may indicate a liquid crystalline phase. The purpose of this paper is to present a statistical geometric analysis of PHF packing.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Mariana Van Zeller ◽  
Diogo M. Dias ◽  
Ana M. Sebastião ◽  
Cláudia A. Valente

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease commonly diagnosed among the elderly population. AD is characterized by the loss of synaptic connections, neuronal death, and progressive cognitive impairment, attributed to the extracellular accumulation of senile plaques, composed by insoluble aggregates of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, and to the intraneuronal formation of neurofibrillary tangles shaped by hyperphosphorylated filaments of the microtubule-associated protein tau. However, evidence showed that chronic inflammatory responses, with long-lasting exacerbated release of proinflammatory cytokines by reactive glial cells, contribute to the pathophysiology of the disease. NLRP3 inflammasome (NLRP3), a cytosolic multiprotein complex sensor of a wide range of stimuli, was implicated in multiple neurological diseases, including AD. Herein, we review the most recent findings regarding the involvement of NLRP3 in the pathogenesis of AD. We address the mechanisms of NLRP3 priming and activation in glial cells by Aβ species and the potential role of neurofibrillary tangles and extracellular vesicles in disease progression. Neuronal death by NLRP3-mediated pyroptosis, driven by the interneuronal tau propagation, is also discussed. We present considerable evidence to claim that NLRP3 inhibition, is undoubtfully a potential therapeutic strategy for AD.


Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 965-972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sudhir Kumar ◽  
Kristi A Balczarek ◽  
Zhi-Chun Lai

Abstract Effective intercellular communication is an important feature in the development of multicellular organisms. Secreted hedgehog (hh) protein is essential for both long- and short-range cellular signaling required for body pattern formation in animals. In a molecular evolutionary study, we find that the vertebrate homologs of the Drosophila hh gene arose by two gene duplications: the first gave rise to Desert hh, whereas the second produced the Indian and Sonic hh genes. Both duplications occurred before the emergence of vertebrates and probably before the evolution of chordates. The amino-terminal fragment of the hh precursor, crucial in long- and short-range intercellular communication, evolves two to four times slower than the carboxyl-terminal fragment in both Drosophila hh and its vertebrate homologues, suggesting conservation of mechanism of hh action in animals. A majority of amino acid substitutions in the amino- and carboxyl-terminal fragments are conservative, but the carboxyl-terminal domain has undergone extensive insertion-deletion events while maintaining its autocleavage protease activity. Our results point to similarity of evolutionary constraints among sites of Drosophila and vertebrate hh homologs and suggest some future directions for understanding the role of hh genes in the evolution of developmental complexity in animals.


1993 ◽  
Vol 163 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akira Ueki ◽  
Mikihiko Kawano ◽  
Yoshio Namba ◽  
Masanobu Kawakami ◽  
Kazuhiko Ikeda

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