REACTIVE OXYGEN SPECIES – EFFECT ON NEURODEGENERATION

Hemanth Kumar Lingala* and M. Pavan Kumar

ABSTRACT

Neurodegenerative disorders are the group of neurological disorders with diverse etiological and pathological phenomena. They are characterized by progressive damage in nerve cells neuronal loss. Common neurodegenerative disorders are Parkinsonism disease, Alzheimer‟s disease, Huntington‟s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Pathogenesis of these disorders is unknown but some evidences suggest that oxidative stress, protein misfolding, neuroinflammation and apoptosis are the distinctive features of these disorders. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the chemically reactive molecules that are implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. A lower concentration of ROS is essential for normal cellular signaling, whereas the higher concentration and long-time exposure of ROS cause damage to cellular macromolecules such as DNA, lipids and proteins, and results in necrosis and apoptotic cell death. Oxidative stress (OS) is a condition produced by the imbalance between oxidants and antioxidants in a biological system. This review mainly focuses on the sources of ROS in brain and its involvement in pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders and possible ways to mitigate its effects.

Keywords: Reactive oxygen species, neurodegenerative disorders, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation.