Parkinson's disease (PD) is a prevalent and disabling neurological disease characterized by the progressive loss of motor control due to the degeneration of dopamine (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra. Among neurodegenerative diseases, PD has served as a model for the development of novel therapeutic approaches: administration of neurotransmitter precursors (levodopa), cell implantation, and more recently, deep brain stimulation. As important and effective as these advances have been, they only relieve symptoms; none stop the progression of the disease. In order to develop therapies which halt the progression of the disease, we need to achieve a better understanding of the pathogenesis of DA neuron degeneration. This submission represents a competing continuation application for a Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Center of Excellence awarded to Columbia University in 1999. This renewal consists of four projects devoted to a single integrating theme: to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms of dopamine neuron degeneration. While there are many worthy hypotheses of pathogenesis, the subprojects of this proposal will focus on four major current themes in the pathogenesis of PD, related to the roles of: (1) Abnormal intracellular protein degradation; (2) Inflammatory pathways; (3) Programmed cell death (PCD); and (4) Oxidative injury. In Project 1, Dr Serge Przedborski will evaluate the role of cycIooxygenase 2 (COX2) and cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) (Theme 2) in mediating dopamine neuron damage in the MPTP model of PD and in human brain samples. In Project 2, Dr David Sulzer will examine in astrocyte and neuron primary cultures the role of chaperone mediated autophagy in the degradation of proteins implicated in PD (Theme 1) and the effect of these proteins on catecholamine sequestration (Theme 4). In Project 3, Dr Robert Burke will use genetic techniques in animal models to examine the roles of the mixed lineage kinases, Akt and JNK in mediating PCD in dopamine neurons (Theme 3), and he will evaluate the functional role of ER stress in initiating cell death (Theme 1). In Project 4, Dr Lloyd Greene will continue to evaluate the functional role of genes identified in the current funding period by SAGE analysis as upregulated following neurotoxin exposure. He will continue his studies of the role of ER stress-related genes (Theme 1) and genes implicated in PCD (Theme 3) in PC12 cells and primary sympathetic neurons, and in living animal models (the latter in collaboration with Drs Burke and Przedborski). He will also examine these transcripts and their protein products in PD brain.
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