Figure 2.

The potential of lipid nutrients to prevent Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. Several lipid nutrients, including vegetable and animal oils, functionalized oils and fatty acids, could be used to treat or attenuate Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease. These disorders have in common protein aggregation and the alteration of protein degradation systems, which can trigger mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, leading to cell death and inflammation. There are now several in vitro and in vivo arguments that lipid nutrients can be efficient in the prevention of neurodegeneration associated with protein aggregation (β-amyloids in Alzheimer’s disease and α-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease). In the future, the cytoprotective activity of lipid nutrients could be enhanced by micro- or nanoencapsulation. Nanotherapy targeting the mitochondria may be considered (Targeted Organelle Nanotherapy (TORN therapy)).