Acetylation of tubulin: a feasible protective target from neurodevelopment to neurodegeneration.

Microtubules are dynamic polymers essential in the proper development and maintenance of a healthy nervous system. Previously increasing evidence linked the defective regulation of microtubules to a spectrum of disorders from neurodevelopmental to neurodegenerative diseases. Acetylation of tubulin determines the biochemical and biophysical diversity of microtubules, regulates their function, and has been recently related to the pathogenic events in different disorders including Schizophrenia, Autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Here we critically look at the experimental data coming from in vitro to in vivo disease models and from patients with the aim of understanding whether targeting tubulin acetylation could be a promising strategy for neuroprotection. We conclude that this is a feasible road but, in the future, a more comprehensive analysis of molecular details at the base of tubulin acetylation and, most important, the consequent determination of novel compounds targeting this process, are the condition sine qua non for moving towards therapeutic interventions.