Neurogenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), represent a growing public health challenge in aging societies. Tauopathies, a subset of neurodegenerative disorders that includes AD, are characterized by accumulation of fibrillar and hyperphosphorylated forms of microtubule-associated protein tau with coincident mitochondrial abnormalities and neuronal dysfunction. Although, , tau impairs axonal transport altering mitochondrial distribution, clear mechanisms associating tau and mitochondrial dysfunction remain obscure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroglia, the resident brain phagocytes, likely play a key role in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of the central nervous system (CNS) and subsequent neuropathogenesis; however, the nature of the infection-induced changes that yield damaging CNS effects and the stimuli that provoke microglial activation remains elusive, especially in the current era of using antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for ARV therapy (ART). Altered microglial metabolism can modulate cellular functionality and pathogenicity in neurological disease. While HIV infection itself alters brain energy metabolism, the effect of ARV drugs, particularly those currently used in treatment, on metabolism is understudied.
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