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Mechanisms of aluminium neurotoxicity in oxidative stress-induced ...

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INTRODUCTION<br />

al. 1996, Cicchetti et al. 2002, Sherer et al. 2003). In post-mortem exam<strong>in</strong>ation <strong>of</strong> bra<strong>in</strong>s<br />

from humans exposed to MPTP, activated microglia was present up to 16 years after<br />

exposure <strong>in</strong>dicat<strong>in</strong>g a long-last<strong>in</strong>g and ongo<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>flammatory response (Langston et al.<br />

1999). Indeed, the <strong>in</strong>flammatory cytok<strong>in</strong>es seem to <strong>in</strong>tensify and perpetuate the<br />

neuro<strong>in</strong>flammation (McGeer et al. 2001, Orr et al. 2002, McGeer and McGeer 2004,<br />

Bartels and Leenders 2007). Furthermore, neuromelan<strong>in</strong>, which is released by dy<strong>in</strong>g<br />

DAergic neurons, was shown to activate microglia <strong>in</strong> vitro (Wilms et al. 2003). As large<br />

amounts <strong>of</strong> superoxide radicals are produced by activated microglia, chronic<br />

neuro<strong>in</strong>flammation may then promote the degeneration <strong>of</strong> DAergic neurons once<br />

activated, probably through <strong>in</strong>creased <strong>oxidative</strong> <strong>stress</strong> (Figure 20; Whitton 2007). This<br />

may lead to the creation <strong>of</strong> a vicious cycle that further <strong>in</strong>creases DAergic toxicity <strong>in</strong> the<br />

SNpc.<br />

Figure 20: Interaction between microglia and DAergic neurons (Whitton 2007)<br />

47

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