Title: Brain Oxidative Stress in Animal Models of Accelerated Aging and the Age-related Neurodegenerative Disorders, Alzheimers Disease and Huntingtons Disease
Volume: 8
Issue: 7
Author(s): D. Allan Butterfield, Beverly J. Howard and Michael A. LaFontaine
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Neurodegenerative Disorders, Alzheimers Disease, Huntingtons Disease, Oxidative Stress in
Abstract: Oxidative stress in brain is emerging as a potential causal factor in aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders. Brain tissue from living patients is difficult to acquire; hence, animal models of aging and age-related neurodegenerative disorders, though not perfect models, have provided tissue to study the role of oxidative stress in these disorders. In this review, the central role of oxidative damage in brain in models of accelerated aging (progeria and Werners syndrome) and the age-related neurodegenerative disorders, Alzheimers disease and Huntingtons disease, will be presented and evaluated. To the extent that the animal models faithfully mirror their respective disorders, and based on the totality of the studies, it is apparent that oxidative stress, the excess of free radicals over the means of scavenging these harmful agents, may play critical roles in the molecular basis of accelerated aging, Alzheimers disease, and Huntingtons disease.
