Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 10, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131281
Keywords
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Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [81274122, 81373997, 81273629, 81473376, U1402221]
- National Mega-project for Innovative Drugs [2012ZX09301002-004, 2012ZX09103101-006, 2012ZX09301002-001-002]
- Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT) [IRT1007]
- Beijing Natural Science Foundation [7131013, 7142115]
- Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China [20121106130001]
- Yunnan Natural Science Foundation [2013FZ132, 2011FB116]
- Beijing Key Laboratory of New Drug Mechanisms and Pharmacological Evaluation Study [BZ0150]
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [3332013082, 3332013146]
- Graduate Innovation Fund of Peking Union Medical College [2012-1007-003]
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Mutations, duplication and triplication of alpha-synuclein genes are linked to familial Parkinson's disease (PD), and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) in Lewy bodies (LB) is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. The targeted overexpression of alpha-syn in the substantia nigra (SN) mediated by viral vectors may provide a better alternative to recapitulate the neurodegenerative features of PD. Therefore, we overexpressed human wild-type alpha-syn using rAAV2/1 vectors in the bilateral SN of mouse and examined the effects for up to 12 weeks. Delivery of rAAV-2/1-alpha-syn caused significant nigrostriatal degeneration including appearance of dystrophic striatal neurites, loss of nigral dopaminergic (DA) neurons and dissolving nigral neuron bodies in a time-dependent manner. In addition, the alpha-syn overexpressed mice also developed significant deficits in motor function at 12 weeks when the loss of DA neurons exceeded a threshold of 50%. To investigate the sensitivity to neurotoxins in mice overexpressing alpha-syn, we performed an MPTP treatment with the subacute regimen 8 weeks after rAAV injection. The impact of the combined genetic and environmental insults on DA neuronal loss, striatal dopamine depletion, dopamine turnover and motor dysfunction was markedly greater than that of either alone. Moreover, we observed increased phosphorylation (S129), accumulation and nuclear distribution of alpha-syn after the combined insults. In summary, these results reveal that the overexpressed alpha-syn induces progressive nigrostriatal degeneration and increases the susceptibility of DA neurons to MPTP. Therefore, the targeted overexpression of a-syn and the combination with environmental toxins may provide valuable models for understanding PD pathogenesis and developing related therapies.
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