Accumulation of alpha-synuclein within the liver, potential role in the clearance of brain pathology associated with Parkinson's disease.
Acta Neuropathol Commun
; 9(1): 46, 2021 03 20.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33743820
ABSTRACT
Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) aggregation is the hallmark pathological lesion in brains of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and related neurological disorders characterized as synucleinopathies. Accumulating evidence now indicates that α-syn deposition is also present within the gut and other peripheral organs outside the central nervous system (CNS). In the current study, we demonstrate for the first time that α-syn pathology also accumulates within the liver, the main organ responsible for substance clearance and detoxification. We further demonstrate that cultured human hepatocytes readily internalize oligomeric α-syn assemblies mediated, at least in part, by the gap junction protein connexin-32 (Cx32). Moreover, we identified a time-dependent accumulation of α-syn within the liver of three different transgenic (tg) mouse models expressing human α-syn under CNS-specific promoters, despite the lack of α-syn mRNA expression within the liver. Such a brain-to-liver transmission route could be further corroborated by detection of α-syn pathology within the liver of wild type mice one month after a single striatal α-syn injection. In contrast to the synucleinopathy models, aged mice modeling AD rarely show any amyloid-beta (Aß) deposition within the liver. In human post-mortem liver tissue, we identified cases with neuropathologically confirmed α-syn pathology containing α-syn within hepatocellular structures to a higher degree (75%) than control subjects without α-syn accumulation in the brain (57%). Our results reveal that α-syn accumulates within the liver and may be derived from the brain or other peripheral sources. Collectively, our findings indicate that the liver may play a role in the clearance and detoxification of pathological proteins in PD and related synucleinopathies.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Contexto em Saúde:
6_ODS3_enfermedades_notrasmisibles
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Doença de Parkinson
/
Encéfalo
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Alfa-Sinucleína
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Fígado
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Aged
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Aged80
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Animals
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Acta Neuropathol Commun
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article