Cellular stress response: a novel target for chemoprevention and nutritional neuroprotection in aging, neurodegenerative disorders and longevity.

The predominant molecular symptom of aging is the accumulation of altered gene products. Moreover, several conditions including protein, lipid or glucose oxidation disrupt redox homeostasis and lead to accumulation of unfolded or misfolded proteins in the aging brain. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases or Friedreich ataxia are neurological diseases sharing, as a common denominator, production of abnormal proteins, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, which contribute to the pathogenesis of these so called "protein conformational diseases".