A Different Take on a Cellular Garbage Catastrophe in Neurodegeneration

The garbage catastrophe view of aging in long-lived cell populations with little turnover, such as those of the brain, is fairly well established. Over-simplifying somewhat, it is a downward spiral in which accumulated molecular damage and metabolic waste in cells makes their maintenance processes ever less efficient, which in turn leads to a faster increase in damage and waste. That ultimately leads to cellular senescence, or programmed cell death, or other forms of dysfunction. Here, researchers present a somewhat different take on a garbage catastrophe, one in which cells sabotage one another by ejecting waste and damaged proteins into the surrounding environment: Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may be linked to defective brain cells disposing toxic proteins that make neighboring cells sick. Researchers found that while healthy neurons should be able to sort out and rid brain cells of toxic proteins and damaged cell structures without causing problems, this does not always occur. These findings could have major implications for neurological disease in humans and could possibly be the way that disease can spread in the brain. "Normally the process of throwing out this trash would be a good thing. We think that there might be a mismanagement of this very important process that is supposed to protect neurons but, instead, is doing harm to neighbor cells." Scientists have understood how the process of eliminating toxic cellular subst...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs