Disease | Clinical manifestations | Neuronal populations affected | Protein aggregates | Genetic factors | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alzheimer's disease (AD) | Memory loss and behavioral abnormalities. | Loss of neurons and synapses in the cerebral cortex and certain subcortical regions. | Amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. | APP, PS1, PS2, APOE4, CALHM1... | |
Parkinson's disease (PD) | Resting tremor, postural instability, gait disturbance, bradykinesia, and rigidity. | Dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). | Aggregated protein deposits named Lewy bodies (LB) composed of α-synuclein. | Parkin, DJ-1, PINK1, LRRK2 | |
Huntington's disease (HD) | Chorea, psychiatric disturbances, and cognitive impairments. | Loss of medium spiny neurons (MSN). The area affected are mainly the striatum (caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus), and also the frontal and temporal cortex. | Accumulation and aggregation of mutant Huntingtin (containing 36 or more polyglutamine (polyQ) expansions in the N-terminal of Huntingtin). | Htt | |
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) | Muscle weakness, muscular atrophy, spasticity, and eventually paralysis. | Motoneurons of the spinal cord, cortex and brain stem. | Intraneuronal aggregates including Bunina bodies, ubiquitinated inclusions, neurofilament-rich "hyaline conglomerate inclusions". | SOD1 |