Colligation of Mitochondria Dysfunction and Neurodegeneration: Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a first most common motor neurodegenerative disorder and caused due to degeneration of dopaminergic neurons of nigrostriatal pathway of brain. Brain is the most active organ of human body which receives, process and command the responses utilizing approximately twenty percent of body’s total energy. Mitochondrion is the cellular powerhouse produces ATP by utilizing various complexes of electron transport chain. This ATP is the energy source of cells and is being used for physiological functions of the cells, indicating the critical role of mitochondrial functionality in cellular physiology. In PD pathology the impaired bioenergetics is the known and critical factor which essentially requires for cellular physiological responses and failed to maintain it will lead to self-destruction of cell, termed as apoptosis. Neuronal apoptosis is the inescapable event in PD pathology and suggest the implications of cellular bioenergetics and the close conjunction of mitochondrion functionality and disease pathology. In this chapter mitochondrion functionality and its correlation with various neurodegenerative signalling pathways during PD pathology will be discussed.

Keywords: Mitochondrial dysfunction, Neurodegeneration, Parkinson’s disease (PD), Pathology.