Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress has been implicated in the development of several neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and neuronal damage by ischemia. This pathway card highlights the up-regulated expression of ER stress response genes.
During ER stress, the expression of ER stress response genes (GRP78/BiP, CHOP, and ATF4) have been shown to be up-regulated. ER stress can be induced by many factors, including pathophysiological conditions (hyper-homocysteinemia, neurotrophic factor deprivation, and hypoxia) and pharmacological agents which can trigger the unfolded protein response and induce cellular dysfunction.