Edited by Neeraja Sankaran

R.R. Ratan, T.H. Murphy, J.M. Baraban, "Oxidative stress induces apoptosis in embryonic cortical neurons," Journal of Neurochemistry, 62:376-9, 1994. (Cited in more than 40 publications through November 1995) Comments by Rajiv Ratan, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore

According to Rajiv Ratan, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the significance of this paper is that it begins to address the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of a large number of neurodegenerative disorders. These conditions include Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, AIDS-related dementia, and familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Ratan and Murphy Jay Baraban SWITCH: Authors, from left, Rajiv Ratan, Timothy Murphy, and Jay Baraban showed that oxidation can induce apoptosis rather than necrosis.

"Recently," says Ratan, "scientists have begun to focus much attention on the hypothesis that oxidative stress is important in the pathogenesis of a number of diseases [B. Halliwell, J. Neurochem...

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