IMR Press / FBE / Volume 4 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.2741/e471

Frontiers in Bioscience-Elite (FBE) is published by IMR Press from Volume 13 Issue 2 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Review

Estrogen receptors in lipid raft signalling complexes for neuroprotection

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1 Laboratory of Cellular Neurobiology, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain
2 Institute of Biomedical Technologies, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain
3 Canarian Institute of Cancer Research, Tenerife, Spain
4 Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain
5 Department of Anatomy, Pathological Anatomy and Histology, School of Medicine, La Laguna University, Tenerife, Spain

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

 

Front. Biosci. (Elite Ed) 2012, 4(4), 1420–1433; https://doi.org/10.2741/e471
Published: 1 January 2012
Abstract

Estrogens exert a plethora of actions conducted to brain preservation and functioning. Some of these actions are initiated in lipid rafts, which are particular microstructures of the plasma membrane. Preservation of lipid raft structure in neurons is essential for signal transduction against different injuries, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These membrane structures appear to be disrupted as this neuropathology evolves, and that may largely contribute to dysfunction of raft resident proteins involved in intracellular signalling. This review includes a survey of some protein interactions that are involved in the structural maintenance and signal transduction mechanisms for neuronal survival against AD. Particularly relevant are the rapid mechanisms developed by estrogen to prevent neuronal death, through membrane estrogen receptors (mER) interactions with a voltage-dependent anion channel (VDAC) and other protein markers within neuronal lipid rafts. These interactions may have important consequences in estrogen mechanisms to achieve neuroprotection against amyloid beta (Abeta-induced toxicity).

Keywords
Membrane estrogen receptor
Lipid rafts
Neuroprotection
Voltage-dependent anion channel
Signalling platforms in neurons
Alzheimer's disease
Review
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