[Iron accumulation and neurodegenerative diseases].

Iron, as well as copper, is essential for a wide variety of biological processes in living organisms, however, dysregulation of iron homeostasis may lead to oxidative stress via redox cycling reactions. Therefore, cellular and systemic iron homeostasis is tightly regulated by a number of iron metabolism proteins. The brain is susceptible to iron-mediated oxidative damage because of a relatively high content of iron and high consumption of oxygen. Iron-mediated neurotoxicity is symbolically seen in neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) in which iron accumulates mainly in the basal ganglia. Furthermore, iron accumulation is considered to play important roles in the pathophysiology of other, more prevalent neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Here, from the standpoint of iron dyshomeostasis, current understandings and therapeutic approaches in NBIA and PD are briefly discussed.