Mitochondrial Ca 2+ Signaling and Bioenergetics in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a hereditary and sporadic neurodegenerative illness defined by the gradual and cumulative loss of neurons in specific brain areas. The processes that cause AD are still under investigation and there are no available therapies to halt it. Current progress puts at the forefront the "calcium (Ca 2+ ) hypothesis" as a key AD pathogenic pathway, impacting neuronal, astrocyte and microglial function. In this review, we focused on mitochondrial Ca 2+ alterations in AD, their causes and bioenergetic consequences in neuronal and glial cells, summarizing the possible mechanisms linking detrimental mitochondrial Ca 2+ signals to neuronal death in different experimental AD models.