| First Author | Faustini G | Year | 2018 |
| Journal | Acta Neuropathol | Volume | 136 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 621-639 |
| PubMed ID | 30046897 | Mgi Jnum | J:312275 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:6754670 | Doi | 10.1007/s00401-018-1892-1 |
| Citation | Faustini G, et al. (2018) Synapsin III deficiency hampers alpha-synuclein aggregation, striatal synaptic damage and nigral cell loss in an AAV-based mouse model of Parkinson's disease. Acta Neuropathol 136(4):621-639 |
| abstractText | Parkinson's disease (PD), the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, is characterized by the progressive loss of nigral dopamine neurons. The deposition of fibrillary aggregated alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies (LB), that is considered to play a causative role in the disease, constitutes another key neuropathological hallmark of PD. We have recently described that synapsin III (Syn III), a synaptic phosphoprotein that regulates dopamine release in cooperation with alpha-synuclein, is present in the alpha-synuclein insoluble fibrils composing the LB of patients affected by PD. Moreover, we observed that silencing of Syn III gene could prevent alpha-synuclein fibrillary aggregation in vitro. This evidence suggests that Syn III might be crucially involved in alpha-synuclein pathological deposition. To test this hypothesis, we studied whether mice knock-out (ko) for Syn III might be protected from alpha-synuclein aggregation and nigrostriatal neuron degeneration resulting from the unilateral injection of adeno-associated viral vectors (AAV)-mediating human wild-type (wt) alpha-synuclein overexpression (AAV-halphasyn). We found that Syn III ko mice injected with AAV-halphasyn did not develop fibrillary insoluble alpha-synuclein aggregates, showed reduced amount of alpha-synuclein oligomers detected by in situ proximity ligation assay (PLA) and lower levels of Ser129-phosphorylated alpha-synuclein. Moreover, the nigrostriatal neurons of Syn III ko mice were protected from both synaptic damage and degeneration triggered by the AAV-halphasyn injection. Our observations indicate that Syn III constitutes a crucial mediator of alpha-synuclein aggregation and toxicity and identify Syn III as a novel therapeutic target for PD. |
