As the average life expectancy of many populations throughout the world increases, so to does the incidence of such age-related neurodegenerative disorders as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's diseases. Rapid advances in our understanding of the molecular genetics and environmental factors that either cause or increase risk for age-related neurodegenerative disor­ ders have been made in the past decade. The ability to evaluate, at the cellular and molecular level, abnormalities in postmortem brain tissue from patients, when taken together with the development of valuable animal and cell-culture models of neurodegenerative disorders has allowed the identification of sequences of events within neurons that result in their demise in specific neurodegenerative disorders. Though the genetic and environmental factors that pro­ mote neurodegeneration may differ among disorders, shared biochemical cascades that will ultimately lead to the death of neurons have been identified. These cascades involve oxyradical production, aberrant regulation of cellular ion homeostasis and activation of a stereotyped sequence of events involving mitochondrial dysfunction and activa­ tion of specific proteases. Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Disorders provides a timely compilation of articles that encompasses fundamental mechanisms involved in neurodegenerative disorders. In addition, mechanisms that may prevent age-related neurodegenerative disorders are presented. Each chapter is written by an expert in the particular neurodegenerative disorder or mechanism or neuronal death discussed.

Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Mechanisms of Neuronal Apoptosis and Excitotoxicity Mark P. Mattson

Oxidative Alterations in Neurodegenerative Diseases
William R. Markesbery, Thomas J. Montine, and Mark A. Lovell

Parkinson's Disease
M. T. Silva and A. H. V. Schapira

Scope of Trinucleotide Repeat Disorders
Shoji Tsuji

Mechanisms of Neuronal Death in Huntington's Disease
Vassilis E. Koliatsos, Carlos Portera-Cailliau, Gabrielle Schilling, David B. Borchelt, Mark W. Becher, and Christopher A. Ross

Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Synaptic Degeneration and Neuronal Death in Alzheimer's Disease
Mark P. Mattson, Ward A. Pedersen, and Carsten Culmsee

Oxidative Stress in Down Syndrome: A Paradigm for the Pathogenesis of Neurodegenerative Disorders
Rocco C. Iannello and Ismail Kola

The Pathogenesis of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Stanley H. Appel and R. Glenn Smith

Experimental Genetics as a Tool for Understanding Pathogenesis of ALS
Philip C. Wong, Donald L. Price, and Jamuna Subramaniam

Pathogenesis of Ischemic Stroke
Mark P. Mattson and Carsten Culmsee

Spinal-Cord Injury
Isabel Klusman and Martin E. Schwab

The Pathogenesis of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
Edward A. Burton and Kay E. Davies