Dose L1 Retrotransposition Cause Neuronal Loss in Neurodegenerative Disorders?

"nNeurodegenerative disorders are among debilitating diseases that could affect many aspects of patient's life. Several mechanisms were shown to be involved in neuronal degeneration. However, the direct role of genomic instability is little considered in such disorders. L1 retrotransposons could cause genomic instability in different ways. Studies have shown increasing in L1 retrotransposition due to some reagents like heavy metals, stressors and the ones that may cause neuronal degeneration; Therefore cause cell to die. On the other hand, L1s retrotransposition was shown in neuronal precursor cells (NPCs) providing the first evidence for movement of theses elements in nervous system."nHere, we propose that stimulation of L1 retrotransposition by environmental and genetic factors in neurons of central nervous system may lead them to apoptosis and result in neurodegenerative disorders. This hypothesis will be verified using L1-RP vector transfecting to definite neuronal cell line. By adding toxic agents including oxidative stress reagents and heavy metals to cell culture, we may track L1 retrotransposition and effects of this movement on cell physiology. Finding the involvement of mechanism in neurodegeneration may result in inventing new drugs for these disorders.