Pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is a devastating neurodegenerative disease affecting both upper and lower motor neuron. Despite extensive research the primary cause of the disease has not been indentified and the causative treatment is lacking. The present article describes mechanisms involved in the disease development and progression, including oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, RNA processing, alterations of cytoskeleton functions and axonal transport, glial cell involvement and programmed cell death. Biomedical Reviews 2011; 22: 7-14.