Lars Tönges

TL;DR: These guidelines are presented for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that increased postlesional autophagy is calcium dependent and thus mechanistically link autophagosomes and intraaxonal calcium levels and is proposed to be major targets for the manipulation of axonal degeneration in future therapeutic settings.

TL;DR: It is shown for the first time that the ROCK inhibitor Y-27632 significantly enhanced survival of RGC in vitro and in vivo and the interaction of intracellular signalling pathways may, however, attenuate more pronounced synergy and has to be taken into account for future treatment strategies.

TL;DR: Inhibition of rho kinase using the clinically approved small molecule inhibitor fasudil may be a promising new therapeutic strategy for Parkinson’s disease.

TL;DR: Adeno-associated viral vectors are generated to specifically downregulate ROCK2 and LIM domain kinase (LIMK)-1 in rat retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in vitro and in vivo to characterize ROCK2 as a specific therapeutic target in neurodegenerative diseases and demonstrate new downstream effects of ROCK2 including axonal degeneration, apoptosis and autophagy.