Neurovascular Medicine Pursuing Cellular Longevity for Healthy Aging

Disorders of the nervous and vascular systems continue to burden the planet's population not only with increasing morbidity and mortality, but also with a significant financial drain through increasing medical care costs coupled to a progressive loss in economic productivity. For example, more than 500 million individuals suffer from nervous and vascular system disorders in the world that comprise both acute and chronic degenerative diseases such as hypertension, cardiac insufficiency, diabetes mellitus, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and Alzheimer's disease. Given the vulnerability of the nervous and vascular systems, identifying the cellular pathways that determine cellular function, injury, and longevity may significantly assist in the development of therapeutic strategies to either prevent or at least reduce disability from crippling degenerative disorders. With this objective, Neurovascular Medicine: Pursuing Cellular Longevity for Healthy Aging is intended to offer unique insights into the cellular and molecular pathways that can govern neuronal, vascular, and inflammatory cell function and provide a platform for investigative perspectives that employ novel "bench to bedside" strategies from internationally recognized scientific leaders. In light of the significant and multifaceted role neuronal, vascular, and inflammatory cells play during degenerative disorders, novel studies that elucidate the role of these cells may greatly further our understanding of disease mechanisms for the development of targeted treatments for a wide spectrum of diseases. The authors of this monograph strive to lay the course for the continued progression of innovative investigations and especially those that examine previously unexplored pathways of cell biology with new avenues of study for the maintenance of healthy aging and extended cellular longevity.

Section I. Unraveling pathways of clinical function and disability. 1. Role of prion protein during normal physiology and disease. 2. Role of protein kinase C and related pathways in vascular smooth muscle contraction and hypertension. 3. Brain temperature regulation during normal neural function and neuropathology. 4. Retinal cellular metabolism and its regulation and control. 5. Crosstalk between the autonomic nervous system and the central nervous system: Mechanistic and therapeutic considerations for neuronal, immune, vascular, and somatic based diseases. 6. Neurobiology of chronic pain. 7. Physiological effects and disease manifestations of performance enhancing androgenic-anabolic steroids, growth hormone, and insulin. Section II. The potential of stem and progenitor cell applications for degenerative disorders. 8. Mesenchymal stem cells and transdifferentiated neurons in crosstalk with the tissue microenvironment: Implications for translational science. 9. Motoneurons from human embryonic stem cells: Present status and future strategies for their use in regenerative medicine. 10. Adult neurogenesis, neuroinflammation and therapeutic potential of adult neural stem cells. 11. Glutamatergic signaling in neurogenesis. Section III. Elucidating inflammatory mediators of disease. 12. Neuroimmune interactions that operate in the development and progression of inflammatory demyelinating diseases: Lessons from pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis. 13. Brain inflammation and the neuronal fate: From neurogenesis to neurodegeneration. 14. Immunomodulation in the nervous and vascular systems during inflammation and autoimmunity: The role of T regulatory cells. Section IV. Translating novel cellular pathways into viable therapeutic strategies. 15. Alzheimers disease - Is it caused by cerebrovascular dysfunction?. 16. Proteases in beta-amyloid metabolism: Potential therapeutic targets against Alzheimer's disease. 17. Neurobiology of Post-Ischemic Recuperation in the Aged Mammalian Brain. 18. Protein misfolding, mitochondrial disturbances and kynurenines in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. 19. Redox signaling and vascular function. 20. Gene therapy toward clinical application in the cardiovascular field. 21. Role of advanced glycation end products, oxidative stress, and inflammation in diabetic vascular complications. 22. Reducing oxidative stress and enhancing neurovascular longevity during diabetes mellitus.