Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, CNRS, UMR 5293, 33076 Bordeaux, France.
Institut des Maladies Neurodégénératives, UMR 5293, Université de Bordeaux, 33076 Bordeaux, France.
Biomolecules. 2022 Mar 11;12(3):436. doi: 10.3390/biom12030436.
The distinct neuropathological features of the different α-Synucleinopathies, as well as the diversity of the α-Synuclein (α-Syn) intracellular inclusion bodies observed in post mortem brain sections, are thought to reflect the strain diversity characterizing invasive α-Syn amyloids. However, this "one strain, one disease" view is still hypothetical, and to date, a possible disease-specific contribution of non-amyloid factors has not been ruled out. In Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), the buildup of α-Syn inclusions in oligodendrocytes seems to result from the terminal storage of α-Syn amyloid aggregates first pre-assembled in neurons. This assembly occurs at the level of neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions, and even earlier, within neuronal intranuclear inclusions (NIIs). Intriguingly, α-Syn NIIs are never observed in α-Synucleinopathies other than MSA, suggesting that these inclusions originate (i) from the unique molecular properties of the α-Syn fibril strains encountered in this disease, or alternatively, (ii) from other factors specifically dysregulated in MSA and driving the intranuclear fibrillization of α-Syn. We report the isolation and structural characterization of a synthetic human α-Syn fibril strain uniquely capable of seeding α-Syn fibrillization inside the nuclear compartment. In primary mouse cortical neurons, this strain provokes the buildup of NIIs with a remarkable morphology reminiscent of cat's eye marbles (see video abstract). These α-Syn inclusions form giant patterns made of one, two, or three lentiform beams that span the whole intranuclear volume, pushing apart the chromatin. The input fibrils are no longer detectable inside the NIIs, where they become dominated by the aggregation of endogenous α-Syn. In addition to its phosphorylation at S129, α-Syn forming the NIIs acquires an epitope antibody reactivity profile that indicates its organization into fibrils, and is associated with the classical markers of α-Syn pathology p62 and ubiquitin. NIIs are also observed in vivo after intracerebral injection of the fibril strain in mice. Our data thus show that the ability to seed NIIs is a strain property that is integrally encoded in the fibril supramolecular architecture. Upstream alterations of cellular mechanisms are not required. In contrast to the lentiform TDP-43 NIIs, which are observed in certain frontotemporal dementias and which are conditional upon GRN or VCP mutations, our data support the hypothesis that the presence of α-Syn NIIs in MSA is instead purely amyloid-strain-dependent.
不同 α-突触核蛋白病的明显神经病理学特征,以及在死后脑组织切片中观察到的 α-突触核蛋白(α-Syn)细胞内包涵体的多样性,被认为反映了侵袭性 α-Syn 淀粉样蛋白的菌株多样性。然而,这种“一种菌株,一种疾病”的观点仍然是假设性的,迄今为止,尚未排除非淀粉样因素的可能疾病特异性贡献。在多系统萎缩症(MSA)中,少突胶质细胞中 α-Syn 包涵体的堆积似乎是由于首先在神经元中预组装的 α-Syn 淀粉样聚集物的末端储存所致。这种组装发生在神经元细胞质包涵体的水平,甚至更早,在神经元核内包涵体(NII)中。有趣的是,除 MSA 之外,从未在其他 α-突触核蛋白病中观察到 α-Syn NII,这表明这些包涵体起源于(i)在该疾病中遇到的 α-Syn 纤维菌株的独特分子特性,或者(ii)来自于在 MSA 中特异性失调并驱动 α-Syn 核内纤维化的其他因素。我们报告了一种合成的人类 α-Syn 纤维菌株的分离和结构特征,该菌株能够在核区室内部引发 α-Syn 纤维化。在原代小鼠皮质神经元中,该菌株引发 NII 的堆积,其形态引人注目,类似于猫眼大理石(见视频摘要)。这些 α-Syn 包涵体形成由一个、两个或三个晶状体束组成的巨大图案,横跨整个核内体积,将染色质推开。在 NII 内部不再检测到输入纤维,它们被内源性 α-Syn 的聚集所主导。除了 S129 的磷酸化外,形成 NII 的 α-Syn 还获得了抗体反应性表型,表明其组织成纤维,并与 α-Syn 病理学的经典标志物 p62 和泛素相关联。在纤维菌株在小鼠脑内注射后,也在体内观察到 NII。我们的数据表明,种子 NII 的能力是一种菌株特性,它完整地编码在纤维超分子结构中。不需要细胞机制的上游改变。与在某些额颞叶痴呆中观察到的、依赖于 GRN 或 VCP 突变的 lentiform TDP-43 NII 相反,我们的数据支持这样的假设,即 MSA 中 α-Syn NII 的存在纯粹是淀粉样菌株依赖性的。