Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Advances and Perspectives of Neuronanomedicine PDF

Preface

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is one of the most devastating motor system neurodegenerative diseases, causing around 10,000 deaths each year. The neuropathology of ALS, which leads to muscle weakness, is mostly confined to motor neurons in the cerebral cortex, motor nuclei of the brainstem, and anterior horns of the spinal cord.

The major goal in treating ALS, currently, is to recognize the onset of the disease early in order to initiate appropriate therapy and delay functional and cognitive losses. Upon the discovery of mutated SOD1 in ALS, many hypotheses have been proposed on how mutant SOD1 could cause neurodegeneration, including aberrant redox chemistry, mitochondrial damage, excitotoxicity, microglial activation and inflammation, as well as SOD1 aggregation. Recently, the implication of biocompatible nanotechnologies set the stage for an evolutionary leap in diagnostic imaging and therapy. In this scope, the book provides a comprehensive overview of the hypotheses and the molecular mechanisms associated with the inflammatory processes in motor neuron disorders and presents the latest research studies on ALS, highlighting the recent findings using newly developed imaging modalities and the innovative approaches of highly sensitive molecular imaging. In addition, by using recently developed surface-enhanced nanoimaging microscopy, the book offers new perspectives on neuroimaging and insights into early diagnosis and promising therapeutic strategies.