ABSTRACT
Neurodegenerative diseases have wreaked havoc on the human population for thousands of years. They are characterized as disorders in which brain and/or spinal cord cells are lost. Mature neurons do not regenerate, and replenishing them is dependent upon recently discovered neural stem cells. This process is ineffi cient at best and thus loss of mature neurons can lead to devastating permanent effects on cognition and even basic motor activity. Providing a biologically compatible scaffold or three-dimensional substrate upon which neural stem cells can propagate, migrate and differentiate is a central focus of the clinical neuroscience fi eld. The most widely studied neurodegenerative diseases include:
• Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) • Alcoholism • Alexander’s disease • Alper’s disease • Alzheimer’s disease • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease) • Ataxia telangiectasia
• Batten disease (also known as Spielmeyer-Vogt-Sjögren-Batten disease) • Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) • Canavan disease • Cockayne syndrome • Corticobasal degeneration • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease • Familial fatal insomnia • Frontotemporal lobar degeneration • Huntington’s disease • HIV-associated dementia • Kennedy’s disease • Krabbe’s disease • Lewy body dementia • Neuroborreliosis • Machado-Joseph disease (Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3) • MELAS-Mitochondrial Encephalopathy, Lactic Acidosis and Stroke • Multiple System Atrophy • Multiple sclerosis • Narcolepsy • Niemann Pick disease • Parkinson’s disease • Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease • Pick’s disease • Primary lateral sclerosis • Prion diseases • Progressive Supranuclear Palsy • Refsum’s disease • Sandhoff disease • Schilder’s disease • Subacute combined degeneration of spinal cord secondary to
Pernicious Anaemia • Spielmeyer-Vogt-Sjögren-Batten disease (also known as Batten
disease) • Spinocerebellar ataxia (multiple types with varying characteristics) • Spinal muscular atrophy • Steele-Richardson-Olszewski disease • Tabes dorsalis • Toxic encephalopathy
In each of these cases, there exists a clear example of either cellular loss or the loss of proper signaling between neurons, most likely due to a blockage of neurotransmitter function. Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases are perhaps the most prominent and widely known of the diseases listed. They are both considered neurodegenerative disorders, yet the clinical manifestations of these diseases occur through different mechanisms. These represent excellent examples of disorders that may be treatable using nanotechnology-based approaches and thus warrant further consideration in detail.
