Commentary
"What kills neurons in neurodegenerative diseases?", a review series in an open access journal
-
* Corresponding author: Todd E Golde tgolde@mayo.edu
Department of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA
Molecular Neurodegeneration 2009, 4:7 doi:10.1186/1750-1326-4-7
Published: 4 February 2009First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
Over the last several decades there has been great progress with respect to understanding the triggers of most neurodegenerative diseases. For example, genetics studies have identified mutations in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene that clearly cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. However ask a panel of experts how a mutation in SOD1 causes motor neurons to die and one will receive many different hypothetical answers. There is simply insufficient data to unequivocally support one hypothesis over another. With rare exceptions, this is true for almost all neurodegenerative diseases.