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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Modulation Of Alpha-Synuclein Metabolism And Toxicity By Cathepsin D, Donna Marlana Crabtree
Modulation Of Alpha-Synuclein Metabolism And Toxicity By Cathepsin D, Donna Marlana Crabtree
All ETDs from UAB
Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most commonly occurring neurodegenerative movement disorder, and aberrant accumulation of the protein α-synuclein is thought to be a major contributing factor in disease development. Dysfunction of the autophagy lysosome pathway (ALP) has been implicated in PD pathogenesis. Our lab and others have shown that the lysosomal enzyme cathepsin D (CD) is an important regulator of α-synuclein degradation. The primary focus of this thesis is probing the structure/function dynamic that exists between α-synuclein and CD. We have found that lentiviral-mediated over expression of wild type CD (wtCD) leads to subtle alterations in the ALP in a …
Mitochondrial Morphology And Function In Neuronal Cells Under Stress, Lonnie Schneider
Mitochondrial Morphology And Function In Neuronal Cells Under Stress, Lonnie Schneider
All ETDs from UAB
Neurodegenerative disease encompasses a wide range of conditions and pathologies that can manifest at any age depending on the etiology. A major factor in both early onset and age-related neurodegeneration is mitochondrial dysfunction. To investigate how mitochondrial bioenergetics is affected by cellular stress, we used an in vitro culture system to examine mitochondrial function in response to oxidative stress. We also studied an in vivo model of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis to determine the impact of deficient autophagy-lysosomal activity on mitochondrial morphology, composition and function. In vitro we found that retinoic acid-induced differentiation of dopaminergic neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells exhibited increased mitochondrial …