Neuronal Death By Accident Or By Design (research And Perspectives In Neurosciences)

Four chapters represent the intense current effort to understand the way in which the mitochondrion controls the activation of the final stages of cell death. Another four articles attack the problem from the other side. How do specific insults in particular human or mouse neuro-degenerative diseases translate into mechanisms that will not only allow us to better understand what is happening in these patients but also, with luck, allow for development of more efficient and specific drugs in the future? Firstly, the concept of a central common cell death pathway, originally derived from studies on the nematode, has been an outstanding productive paradigm in bringing together different strands of research. Secondly, truly striking links have been made between results obtained in the culture dish (or even cell-free systems) and the diseased human brain. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Mitochondria and Apoptosis, the Stepping Stones on the Path to Death....Pages 1-13 Mitochondrial Membrane Permeabilization in Physiological and Pathological Cell Death....Pages 15-26 Bcl-2 Family Members and Permeabilization of the Outer Mitochondrial Membrane....Pages 27-32 Roles for Fas in Programmed Cell Death of Motoneurons....Pages 33-45 Events that Commit Neurons to Die After Trophic Factor Deprivation....Pages 47-60 Normal Programmed Cell Death of Developing Avian and Mammalian Neurons Following Inhibition or Genetic Deletion of Caspases....Pages 61-74 Caspases and Their Regulation in Apoptosis during Brain Development....Pages 75-88 Apoptotic Neurodegeneration in the Developing Brain....Pages 89-96 Apoptosis, Glial Cells and Parkinson’s Disease....Pages 97-107 Mechanisms of Neuronal Death: An in vivo Study in the Lurcher Mutant Mice....Pages 109-135 Neuronal Death in Huntington’s Disease: Multiple Pathways for One Issue?....Pages 137-152 Back Matter....Pages 153-154