The aging brain, a key target for the future: the protein kinase C involvement.

The brain represents the primary centre for the regulation and control of all our body activities, receiving and interpreting sensory impulses and
transmitting information to the periphery. Most importantly, it is also the seat of consciousness, thought, emotion and especially memory, being in
fact able to encode, store and recall any information. Memory is really what makes possible so many of our complex cognitive functions, including
communication and learning, and surely without memory, life would lose all of its glamour and purpose. Age-associated mental impairment can
range in severity from forgetfulness at the border with pathology to dementia, such as in Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years, one of the most
relevant observations of research on brain aging relates to data indicating that age-related cognitive decline is not only due to neuronal loss, as
previously thought; instead, scientists now believe that age-associated functional changes have more to do with the dysfunctions occurring over
time.Within this context a prominent role is certainly played by signal transduction cascades which guarantee neuronal cell to elaborate coordinated
responses to the multiple signals coming from the outside and to adapt itself to the environmental changes and requests. This review will focus
the attention on protein kinase C pathway, with a particular interest on its activation process, and on the role of protein–lipid and protein–protein
interactions to selectively localize the cellular responses. Furthermore, information is emerging and will be discussed on the possibility of mRNA
stabilization through PKC activation. This review will also approach the issue on how alterations of these molecular cascades may have implications
in physiological and pathological brain aging, such as Alzheimer’s disease.