Habibi L, Perry G, Mahmoudi M. Global warming and neurodegenerative disorders: speculations on their linkage.
ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014;
4:167-70. [PMID:
25671171 PMCID:
PMC4298706 DOI:
10.15171/bi.2014.013]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2014] [Accepted: 11/25/2014] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Climate change is having considerable impact on biological systems. Eras of ice ages and warming shaped the contemporary earth and origin of creatures including humans. Warming forces stress conditions on cells. Therefore, cells evolved elaborate defense mechanisms, such as creation of heat shock proteins, to combat heat stress. Global warming is becoming a crisis and this process would yield an undefined increasing rate of neurodegenerative disorders in future decades. Since heat stress is known to have a degenerative effects on neurons and, conversely, cold conditions have protective effect on these cells, we hypothesize that persistent heat stress forced by global warming might play a crucial role in increasing neurodegenerative disorders.
Collapse