Is there a molecular logic that sustains neuronal functional integrity and survival? Lipid signaling is necessary for neuroprotective neuronal transcriptional programs.

A challenge to civilization is the growing incidence in the loss of sight and cognition due to increased life expectancy. Therefore, we are confronted with a rise in the occurrence of photoreceptor- and neuronal-survival failure, as reflected mainly by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nervous system development is driven by neuronal apoptotic cell death, and thereafter, for the entire lifespan of an organism, neurons are postmitotic cells. In neurodegenerative diseases, apoptosis and other forms of cells death lead to selective neuronal loss. Although age is the main risk factor, not everyone develops these diseases during aging. Despite decades of important findings about neuronal cell death, the specific mechanisms that regulate neuronal survival remain incompletely understood.