[A study of selective neuronal vulnerability in the human central nervous system]

The concept of 'selective neuronal vulnerability' refers to the differential sensitivity of neuronal populations in the nervous system to stresses that cause cell damage and lead to neurodegeneration. Because oxidative stress play a causal role in the physiological aging process, and it is often invoked as an aetiopathogenic and/or pathophysiological mechanism for neurodegeneration, in the present work we propose that the molecular bases of selective neuronal vulnerability is linked with cell adaptations related to oxidative stress.

The grey substance of 5 different regions from healthy human subjects (n=7) were selected: i) to evaluate their membrane fatty acid profile by chromatographic methods, ii) to determine their membrane susceptibility to peroxidation, and iii) to recognise potential mechanisms involved in its regulation.

The results showed significant inter-regional differences in the fatty acid profile, basically due to the content of mono- and highly polyunsaturated fatty acids; changes that, in turn, induce significant differences in theirs susceptibilities to peroxidation, as well as differences that can be ascribed to the desaturase activity.

Thus, the cross-regional comparative approach seems to confirm the idea that the level of cell membrane unsaturation may be a key trait associated with selective neuronal vulnerability.