Regulatory mechanism of prion-like transmission

Nobuyuki Nukina

Department of Neurology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine

Synucleinopathies are neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson disease that involve deposits of the protein alpha-synuclein (α-syn) in the brain.　The inoculation of α-syn preformed fibrils (PFF) formed in vitro induces misfolding and deposition of endogenous α-syn.　This is referred to as prion-like transmission.　In this study, we labeled α-syn PFF with quantum dots, and visualized their movement directly in acute slices of brain tissue inoculated with α-syn PFF seeds.　Using this system, we found that the trafficking of α-syn seeds is dependent on fast axonal transport and the seed spreading is dependent on endocytosis and neuronal activity.

Address correspondence to Dr. Nobuyuki Nukina, Department of Neurology, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine (2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan)