Affiliations: Department of Neuroscience, Neurological Clinic, University of Pisa, Italy | [x] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, Institute of Physiology – Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal | [y] Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Michelangelo Mancuso, M.D., PhD, Department of Neurosciences, Neurological Clinic, University of Pisa, Via Roma 67, 56126 Pisa, Italy. Tel.: +39 050 992440; Fax: +39 050 554808; E-mail: mmancuso@inwind.it.
Abstract: There is substantial evidence of morphological, biochemical and molecular abnormalities in mitochondria in various tissues of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the precise role of mitochondria in the neurodegenerative cascade leading to AD is still unclear, leaving the answer to the question “what's first: the chicken or the egg?” pending. Here we focus our attention on the progress made in this field in the past few years, which indicates a key role of this fossil organelle and of its specific DNA in contributing to the disease.
