title: Calcium in the pathomechanism of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Taking center stage?
abstract: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is an incurable, relentlessly progressive disease primarily affecting motor neurons. The cause of the disease, except for the mutations identified in a small fraction of patients, is unknown. The major mechanisms contributing to the degeneration of motor neurons have already been disclosed and characterized, including excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and immune/inflammatory processes. During the progression of the disease these toxic processes are not discrete, but each facilitates the deleterious effect of the other. However, due to their common reciprocal calcium dependence, calcium ions may act as a common denominator and through a positive feedback loop may combine the individual pathological processes into a unified escalating mechanism of neuronal destruction. This mini-review provides an overview of the mutual calcium dependence of the major toxic mechanisms associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Biological Research Center, Temesvári krt. 62, 6726 Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Patai
authors.affiliation: Foundation for the Future of Biomedical Sciences in Szeged, Pálfy u. 52/d, 6725 Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: Bernát
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nógrádi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Szeged, Semmelweis u. 6, 6725 Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: József I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Engelhardt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Biological Research Center, Temesvári krt. 62, 6726 Szeged, Hungary. Electronic address: siklos.laszlo@brc.mta.hu.
authors.forename: László
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Siklós
mesh_terms: D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018091:Receptors, AMPA; D002118:Calcium
keywords: AMPA receptor; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Calcium; Calcium buffering; Motor neuron; Toxicity