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Infectious disease, age, and environmental contaminants as neurotoxicants that modulate glia and contribute to neurodegenerative pathology

Abstract

Neurodegenerative disease cases are expected to double over the next twenty years. These diseases, which include Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Parkinson's Disease (PD), are incurable with a largely unknown etiology. It is acknowledged within the field that age is the greatest risk factor for neurodegenerative disease, and that genetics and environmental factors, such as neurotoxicants and infectious agents, likely play a role. Despite this knowledge, it is not entirely understood why select individuals are pushed into a state of disease, while others progress into a state of normal brain aging. This is further complicated by the shared neuropathology between brain aging and neurodegenerative disease, which includes blood-brain barrier (BBB) modulation, gliosis, misfolded protein accumulation, and loss of function or degradation of neurons. To address these gaps in our understanding, the studies herein provide valuable insight as to how infectious disease, specifically through infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, contributes to the progression of neuropathology, evaluates an alternative model of brain aging that better recapitulates human disease, and provides mechanistic understanding of the neuroprotective and neurotoxic roles of glia in disease. Altogether, these data elucidate the etiology and mechanisms that drive neurodegenerative disease, as well as possible therapeutic avenues that may bring us one step closer to a cure.

Description

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Embargo expires: 05/20/2025.

Subject

glia
neurotoxicity
tuberculosis
neuroinflammation
aging
Parkinson's disease

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