The Involvement of Kynurenine Pathway in Neurodegenerative Diseases
Lais B Martins1, Ana L M Silveira2,3, Antonio L Teixeira1,4
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA.
Background:
A growing body of evidence has shown the involvement of the kynurenine pathway (KP), the primary route of tryptophan (TRP) catabolism, in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric disorders.
Objective:
The study aims to provide a comprehensive and critical overview of the clinical evidence on the KP involvement in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD), discussing therapeutic opportunities.
Methods:
We searched for studies investigating KP metabolites in human subjects with AD and/or PD.
Results:
Postmortem studies showed altered levels of KP metabolites in the brain of AD and PD patients compared with controls. Cross-sectional studies have reported associations between peripheral levels (serum or plasma) of KP metabolites and cognitive function in these patients, but the results are not always concordant.
Conclusion:
Given the emerging evidence of the involvement of KP in the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric/ neurodegenerative diseases and promising results from preclinical pharmacological studies, a better understanding of the KP involvement in AD and PD is warranted. Future longitudinal studies are needed to define the direction of the observed associations and specific therapeutic targets within the KP.
More Related Videos
07:04A High-performance Liquid Chromatography Measurement of Kynurenine and Kynurenic Acid: Relating Biochemistry to Cognition and Sleep in Rats
Published on: August 19, 2018
08:33Characterizing Histone Post-translational Modification Alterations in Yeast Neurodegenerative Proteinopathy Models
Published on: March 24, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Drugs Affecting Neurotransmitter Synthesis
The Proteasome
In this pathway, the target proteins are first tagged with small proteins called ubiquitin. This involves participation of a series of enzymes including— E1 (ubiquitin-activating enzyme), E2 (ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme), and E3...
Biosynthesis of Nucleic Acids
Neural Regulation
Drugs Affecting Neurotransmitter Release or Uptake
Amino Acid Biosynthetic Pathways
