Metabolism and Functions of Bioactive Ether Lipids in the Brain

Information on bioactive ether lipids and their involvement in neurological disorders is currently scattered throughout the literature in the form of original papers and reviews. Metabolism and Functions of Bioactive Ether Lipids in the Brain provides readers with a comprehensive description of metabolism of bioactive ether lipids in the brain, activities of enzymes involved in their metabolism, and their involvement in neurological disorders.

This book will be particularly useful to neuroscience graduate students, academics, and researchers. Clinicians will find this book useful for understanding molecular aspects of neurodegeneration in acute neural trauma and neurodegenerative diseases that are mediated by plamalogen-selective phospholipases A2 and PAF acetyl hydrolases. This monograph is the first to provide a comprehensive description of not only metabolism and role of plasmalogen and platelet activating factor in brain tissue but also the involvement of these lipids with abnormal signal transduction processes in neurological disorders.

Key Features

• Provides the neuroscience community with extensive description of ether lipids-derived lipid mediators their roles and association with neurological disorders

• Particular attention given to the description of keys enzymes associated with the generation of ether lipid-derived lipid mediators

• Illustrated with chemical structures and line diagrams of signal transduction pathways

• Discusses the future direction of research on ether lipid metabolism

About the Authors

Akhlaq A. Farooqui is a leader in the field of bioactive ether lipids, glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity, and brain phospholipases A2. In collaboration with late Dr. Lloyd A. Horrocks, he discovered a plasmalogen-selective phospholipase A2 in brain and showed its stimulation in kainate-mediated neurotoxicity and brain tissue from patients with Alzheimer disease. He has also found a decrease in plasmalogen levels in brain from Alzheimer’s disease patients. This decrease in plasmalogens is due to the stimulation of phospholipases A2. Akhlaq A. Farooqui has authored two monographs, Glycerophospholipids in Brain: Phospholipase A2 in Neurological Disorders (Springer, 2006) and Neurochemical Aspects of Excitotoxicity (Springer, 2007). Tahira Farooqui is an expert on glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid metabolism and neural plasticity. She has published extensively on molecular mechanism of neuroinflammation, interactions between glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid-derived lipid mediators, and neural plasticity in the brain.