Familial early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is more probable in individuals coming from mothers diagnosed with AD than from fathers diagnosed with AD. Studies in animal models have shown maternal imprinting due to the transmission to the embryo of altered material in the ovum. In the case of transgenic animals harboring a mutated form of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP), offspring from crosses with wild-type (WT) fathers and transgenic mothers display more abnormalities than offspring from crosses with transgenic fathers and WT mothers. Expression of the mutated APP in the ovum may lead to alterations that may be genetic and/or epigenetic in the nuclear and/or the mitochondrial DNA. These modifications that are transmitted to the new living beings affect more mitochondrial proteins and, therefore, the mitochondrial function may be affected in adulthood by trends present in the ovum.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) induces several destructive events that develop immediately after the primary insult. These phenomena increase tissue damage; that is why, numerous therapeutic approaches are studied in order to neutralize these destructive mechanisms. In line with this, several studies indicate that after injury, neural tissue could be protected by an adaptive immune response directed against self-antigens. Immunization with neural-derived peptides (INDP) reduces secondary degeneration of neurons after spinal cord insult and promotes a significant motor recovery. The combination of antioxidants or other immunomodulatory peptides after SCI can improve the protective effect induced by INDP. INDP in acute SCI is a promising strategy, so further studies should be addressed to be able to formulate the best strategy.

Phosphoinositides are membrane phospholipids involved in a variety of cellular processes like growth, development, metabolism, and transport. This review focuses on the maintenance of cellular homeostasis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP₂), and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate (PIP₃). The critical balance of these PIPs is crucial for regulation of neuronal form and function. The activity of PIP₂ and PIP₃ can be regulated through kinases, phosphatases, phospholipases and cholesterol microdomains. PIP₂ and PIP₃ carry out their functions either indirectly through their effectors activating integral signaling pathways, or through direct regulation of membrane channels, transporters, and cytoskeletal proteins. Any perturbations to the balance between PIP₂ and PIP₃ signaling result in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. This review will discuss the upstream modulators and downstream effectors of the PIP₂ and PIP₃ signaling, in the context of neuronal health and disease.

Current evidence indicates that neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra associated to Parkinson’s disease is a consequence of a neuroinflammatory process in which microglial cells play a central role. The initial activation of microglial cells is triggered by pathogenic protein inclusions, which are mainly composed by α-synuclein. Importantly, these pathogenic forms of α-synuclein subsequently induce a T-cell-mediated autoimmune response to dopaminergic neurons. Depending on their functional phenotype, these autoreactive T-cells might shape the functional features of activated microglia. T-cells bearing pro-inflammatory phenotypes such as T-helper (Th)1 or Th17 promote a chronic inflammatory behaviour on microglia, whilst anti-inflammatory T-cells, such as regulatory T-cells (Treg) favour the acquisition of neuroprotective features by microglia. Thus, T-cells play a fundamental role in the development of neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration involved in Parkinson’s disease. This review summarizes the evidence indicating that not only CD4⁺ T-cells, but also CD8⁺ T-cells play an important role in the physiopathology of Parkinson’s disease. Next, this review analyses the different T-cell epitopes derived from the pathogenic forms of α-synuclein involved in the autoimmune response associated to Parkinson’s disease in animal models and humans. It also summarizes the requirement of specific alleles of major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) class I and class II necessaries for the presentation of CD8⁺ and CD4⁺ T-cell epitopes from the pathogenic forms of α-synuclein in both humans and animal models. Finally, this work summarizes and discusses a number of experimental immunotherapies that aim to strengthen the Treg response or to dampen the inflammatory T-cell response as a therapeutic approach in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.