Metal Transporters in Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Huntington's disease (HD), have greatly increased in public awareness in recent decades. Among the majority of causes for these diseases, dysfunctions of biometal metabolism occupy a very important position in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration. Mounting studies focus on various families of transporters and metal specificities, a major class of proteins that are essential for each metal ion influx or efflux through the neuronal membranes, which their mis-expressions are involved in imbalance of heavy metals in the brain. In this chapter, we mainly summarize the information on the iron, zinc and copper transporters, and the mechanistic aspects of their function and regulation in PD, AD, and HD. Besides these, the other biometals including manganese, magnesium and aluminum as well as their corresponding transporters are also discussed.