RSC Publishing


Publishing

 

Cover image for Molecular BioSystems, select for current issue

Molecular BioSystems

Research at the interface between chemistry and the -omic sciences and systems biology.



Subscribers

  • PDF
  • HTML article

Non-subscribers

Free access



Highlight

Mol. BioSyst., 2008, 4, 36 - 41, DOI: 10.1039/b715278g

Alterations of some membrane transport proteins in Alzheimer's disease: role of amyloid -peptide

Rukhsana Sultana and D. Allan Butterfield

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease characterized clinically by progressive memory loss and decline in cognitive abilities and characterized pathologically by the presence of two types of abnormal deposits, i.e., senile plaques (SP) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), and by extensive synapse and neuronal loss. SP are composed of fibrillar amyloid -peptide (A) surrounded by dystrophic neurites. Recent studies suggest two prospective mechanisms for A-associated membrane dysfunction and subsequent neurotoxicity. One suggests that A oligomers can form heterogeneous ion-channels in the cell membrane leading to cellular degeneration, while the second suggests insertion of A oligomers in membrane lipid bilayers could induce the dysfunction of ion-channels or pumps by binding to or inducing oxidative modification of membrane proteins. In this review, we discuss the effects of A on membrane proteins that are involved in cholinergic and glutamatergic pathways, and some ion-channels.

Graphical abstract image for this article (ID: b715278g)