Calcium signalling: A common target in neurological disorders and neurogenesis

Abstract

Calcium is an ubiquitous second messenger used by any living cell. The fine-tuning of intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca²⁺]_i) homeostasis and signalling pathways is crucial for the maintenance of the healthy organism. Many alterations in the homeostasis can be compensated by robust mechanisms; however, cells that already present some debility in those mechanisms, or that are over stimulated cannot compensate the stress and die. Many neurological diseases show [Ca²⁺] disbalance as trigger of apoptotic response resulting in massive neuronal loss and the neurodegeneration. In this review, we focus on presenting similarities and differences of neurological disorders like Huntington's, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia and the current clinical trial status. Moreover, we describe the importance of Ca²⁺ signalling in neurogenesis, showing that interference of this signalling could go along with stem cell therapy in the central nervous system.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Cell therapy; Endoplasmic reticulum; Kinases; Neural stem cells; Parkinson’s disease.