German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Venusberg-Campus 1, Gebäude 99, 53127, Bonn, Germany.
Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Universitätsstraße 1, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Acta Neuropathol. 2019 Oct;138(4):515-533. doi: 10.1007/s00401-019-02037-5. Epub 2019 Jun 22.
Parkinson's disease and related disorders are neuropathologically characterized by cellular deposits of misfolded and aggregated α-synuclein in the CNS. Disease-associated α-synuclein adopts a conformation that causes it to form oligomers and fibrils, which have reduced solubility, become hyperphosphorylated, and contribute to the spatiotemporal spreading of pathology in the CNS. The infectious properties of disease-associated α-synuclein, e.g., by which peripheral route and with which efficiency it can be transmitted, are not fully understood. Here, we investigated the potential of α-synuclein fibrils to induce neurological disease in TgM83 mice expressing the A53T mutant of human α-synuclein after oral or intravenous challenge and compared it to intraperitoneal and intracerebral challenge. Oral challenge with 50 µg of α-synuclein fibrils caused neurological disease in two out of eight mice in 220 days and 350 days, and challenge with 500 µg in four out of eight mice in 384 ± 131 days, respectively. Intravenous challenge with 50 µg of α-synuclein fibrils led to disease in 208 ± 20 days in 10 out of 10 mice and was in duration comparable to intraperitoneal challenge with 50 µg of α-synuclein fibrils, which caused disease in 10 out of 10 mice in 202 ± 35 days. Ten out of 10 mice that were each intracerebrally challenged with 10 µg or 50 µg of α-synuclein fibrils developed disease in 156 ± 20 days and 133 ± 4 days, respectively. The CNS of diseased mice displayed aggregates of sarkosyl-insoluble and phosphorylated α-synuclein, which colocalized with ubiquitin and p62 and were accompanied by gliosis indicative of neuroinflammation. In contrast, none of the control mice that were challenged with bovine serum albumin via the same routes developed any neurological disease or neuropathology. These findings are important, because they show that α-synuclein fibrils can neuroinvade the CNS after a single oral or intravenous challenge and cause neuropathology and disease.
帕金森病和相关疾病在神经病理学上的特征是中枢神经系统中细胞内沉积错误折叠和聚集的α-突触核蛋白。与疾病相关的α-突触核蛋白采用一种构象,导致其形成寡聚体和纤维,这些寡聚体和纤维的溶解度降低,发生过度磷酸化,并有助于中枢神经系统中病理学的时空传播。与疾病相关的α-突触核蛋白的感染特性,例如通过哪种外周途径以及以何种效率可以传播,尚未完全了解。在这里,我们研究了α-突触核蛋白纤维在经口或静脉内挑战后诱导表达人类α-突触核蛋白 A53T 突变的 TgM83 小鼠发生神经疾病的潜力,并将其与腹腔内和脑内挑战进行了比较。经口给予 50µgα-突触核蛋白纤维,在 220 天和 350 天内,8 只小鼠中有 2 只发生神经疾病;经口给予 500µgα-突触核蛋白纤维,在 8 只小鼠中有 4 只发生神经疾病,分别为 384±131 天。静脉内给予 50µgα-突触核蛋白纤维,在 10 只小鼠中有 10 只在 208±20 天内发病,其发病时间与腹腔内给予 50µgα-突触核蛋白纤维相当,10 只小鼠中有 10 只在 202±35 天内发病。经脑内给予 10µg 或 50µgα-突触核蛋白纤维,10 只小鼠中有 10 只分别在 156±20 天和 133±4 天内发病。患病小鼠的中枢神经系统显示出 Sarkosyl 不溶性和磷酸化α-突触核蛋白的聚集物,这些聚集物与泛素和 p62 共定位,并伴有神经炎症的神经胶质增生。相比之下,通过相同途径用牛血清白蛋白进行挑战的对照小鼠均未出现任何神经疾病或神经病理学表现。这些发现很重要,因为它们表明,α-突触核蛋白纤维在单次经口或静脉内挑战后可以神经入侵中枢神经系统,并导致神经病理学和疾病。