Evolutionary Molecular Strategies and Plasticity 2007

For the last four decades, the study of the functioning and pathological alterations of the Nervous System has been intensified in search for therapeutic alternatives against neurodegenerative disorders in humans. Since their first descriptions in the 19th and 20th centuries, sufficient clinical and experimental findings contributed to describe the origin of some of the most common and frequent neurological diseases. Derived from this multidisciplinary research performed along decades, now we know that a great number of factors trigger nerve tissue damage and cell death, and they include the environmental exposure to toxicants, inheritance patterns, the individual susceptibility to endogenous or exogenous neurotoxins, ageing processes, traumatic injury, drug abuse, and several other risk events. Moreover, especially now when our understanding of the human genome starts, it becomes particularly relevant to characterize the potential sources of alterations of the human brain and their implications for the upcoming generations.

Since our knowledge of the precise mechanisms underlying neuronal cell death and degeneration is still incomplete, this is a field of very active research in neurosciences. In an effort to provide new insights on the nature of neurodegenerative disorders, in this book we have compiled the review works of a group of expert scientists currently involved in the study and description of potential damaging mechanisms occurring in the Central Nervous System. Thus, what the reader will find in this book is interesting information, mostly based on recent experimental evidence, on different models of neurodegenerative disorders, from the newest studies performed in invertebrates, to the traditional paradigms using endogenous neurotoxins on rodents. The involvement of oxidative stress and inflammatory signals as integral parts of the toxic features of some brain diseases is also described. Also, neurotoxic models based on apoptotic cell death and/or depletion of endogenous antioxidants are included, some of them related to recent findings about the effects of exposure to neurotoxic metals. Finally, new experimental approaches for treatment of some of these disorders are proposed and discussed in detail, some of which are based on the antioxidant properties of specific drugs, vegetal extracts or even on hormones as survival factors. Through the revision of all these topics, our intention is to offer the reader a general scope on new perspectives on brain cell damage, neurodegeneration and neuroprotective strategies, which is, indeed, the title of this volume.