Publisher's Synopsis
As life expectancy increases in the developed world, so does the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases of the human brain. Metal–Based Neurodegeneration provides a molecular biology perspective of many of the neurodegenerative diseases which currently plague humankind, including:
- Alzheimer’s Disease
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease
- Familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
- Friedreich’s ataxia
- Multiple sclerosis
- Wilson’s disease
- Hallervorden–Spatz syndrome
- Huntington’s disease
In a dedicated chapter for each disease the characteristics of the disease are described along with the biochemical actors, including their normal, and pathological conformations. Emphasis is given on the role of metal–induced oxidative stress in the disease process, often resulting in the production of intracellular aggregates of the target proteins or peptides, including b–amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy bodies in Parkinson’s disease, prion protein (PrP) plaques in prion diseases and nuclear inclusions in Huntington’s. Finally the authors discuss the progress that is being made in understanding the pathogenesis of the diseases and the identification of targets for their treatment.
Metal–Based Neurodegeneration is an essential survey of the molecular origin of neurodegenerative diseases for clinical and research scientists working in gerontology, neuropathology, metalloprotein mechanisms, and anyone with an interest in the diseases of ageing.
