Apoptosis in Alzheimer’s Disease: An Understanding of the Physiology, Pathology and Therapeutic Avenues.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a devastative
neurodegenerative disorder with complex etiology. Apoptosis,
a biological process that plays an essential role in
normal physiology to oust a few cells and contribute to the
normal growth, when impaired or influenced by various
factors such as Bcl2, Bax, caspases, amyloid beta, tumor
necrosis factor-a, amyloid precursor protein intracellular
C-terminal domain, reactive oxygen species, perturbation of
enzymes leads to deleterious neurodegenerative disorders
like AD. There are diverse pathways that provoke manifold
events in mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to
execute the process of cell death. This review summarizes
the crucial apoptotic mechanisms occurring in both mitochondria
and ER. It gives substantial summary of the
diverse mechanisms studied in vivo and in vitro. A brief
account on neuroprotection of several bioactive components,
flavonoids and antioxidants of plants against apoptotic
events of both mitochondria and ER in both in vitro
and in vivo has been discussed. In light of this, the burgeoning
need to develop animal models to study the efficacy
of various therapeutic effects has been accentuated.