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0:00
Hello, my name is Patrick Lewis,
and I'm an associate professor
at the University of
Reading, School of Pharmacy.
Today, I'm going to discuss some
of the model system and methods
that we can use to understand
neurodegenerative diseases.
0:14
The first thing to understand
is the scale of the problem
that researchers face when trying
to dissect the processes that lead
to neurodegeneration and
neurological disease.
This stems from the nature of
the organ affected, the brain.
The human brain is one of the
most complex machines known
to man with an estimated 80
billion cells, many forming
complex neural networks
with multiple other cells.
Finding out why some
of these cells go wrong
is very much analogous to
finding a needle in a haystack.
0:42
To add to the challenge, there's
a huge amount of variation
in the types of neurons found in
the brain with individual regions,
such as midbrain, cerebellum,
and frontal cortex, each having
a dazzling array of highly
specialized neuronal types,
illustrated here in a drawing of the
human hippocampus by Camillo Golgi.
Coupled to this,
neurons are only one
cell type of many
found in the brain.
Glial cells such as
astrocytes, microglia,
oligodendrocytes
play a critical role
in maintaining neuronal function
as well as being central
to the processes that
lead to neurodegeneration.
1:15
The final complicating factor is
that there is a broad specificity
for a particular region of
the nervous system or cell
type in different
neurodegenerative disorders.
In Parkinson's, for
example, it is primarily,
although not exclusively,
dopaminergic neurons
in the midbrain that degenerate.
There are also particular
types of pathology
found in different disorders.
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,
or ALS, most of the pathology's
in the form of aggregated
TPD-43 inclusions
in the cytoplasm of cells.
How and why are there such exquisite
specificity in the etiology
of these disorders
remains a mystery and is
part of the massive challenge
faced by researchers in this area.
