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An ?-synuclein AAV gene silencing vector ameliorates a behavioral deficit in a rat model of Parkinson's disease, but displays toxicity in dopamine neurons.

ABSTRACT: Effects of silencing ectopically expressed hSNCA in rat substantia nigra (SN) were examined as a novel therapeutic approach to Parkinson's disease (PD). AAV-hSNCA with or without an AAV harboring a short-hairpin (sh)RNA targeting hSNCA or luciferase was injected into one SN. At 9weeks, hSNCA-expressing rats had reduced SN dopamine (DA) neurons and exhibited a forelimb deficit. AAV-shRNA-SNCA silenced hSNCA and protected against the forelimb deficit. However, AAV-shRNA-SNCA also led to DA neuron loss suggesting undesirable effects of chronic shRNA expression. Effects on nigrostriatal-projecting neurons were examined using a retrograde tract tracer. Loss of striatal-projecting DA neurons was evident in the vector injection site, whereas DA neurons outside this site were lost in hSNCA-expressing rats, but not in hSNCA-silenced rats. These observations suggest that high levels of shRNA-SNCA were toxic to DA neurons, while neighboring neurons exposed to lower levels were protected by hSNCA gene silencing. Also, data collected on DA levels suggest that neurons other than or in addition to nigrostriatal DA neurons contributed to protection of forelimb use. Our observations suggest that while hSNCA gene silencing in DA neurons holds promise as a novel PD therapy, further development of silencing technology is required.

SUBMITTER: Khodr CE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3105182 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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An α-synuclein AAV gene silencing vector ameliorates a behavioral deficit in a rat model of Parkinson's disease, but displays toxicity in dopamine neurons.

Khodr Christina E CE Sapru Mohan K MK Pedapati Jyothi J Han Ye Y West Neva C NC Kells Adrian P AP Bankiewicz Krystof S KS Bohn Martha C MC

Brain research 20110422

Effects of silencing ectopically expressed hSNCA in rat substantia nigra (SN) were examined as a novel therapeutic approach to Parkinson's disease (PD). AAV-hSNCA with or without an AAV harboring a short-hairpin (sh)RNA targeting hSNCA or luciferase was injected into one SN. At 9weeks, hSNCA-expressing rats had reduced SN dopamine (DA) neurons and exhibited a forelimb deficit. AAV-shRNA-SNCA silenced hSNCA and protected against the forelimb deficit. However, AAV-shRNA-SNCA also led to DA neuron ...[more]

PMID: 21565333

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Project description:Human studies and preclinical models of Parkinson's disease implicate the involvement of both the innate and adaptive immune systems in disease progression. Further, pro-inflammatory markers are highly enriched near neurons containing pathological forms of alpha synuclein (?-syn), and ?-syn overexpression recapitulates neuroinflammatory changes in models of Parkinson's disease. These data suggest that ?-syn may initiate a pathological inflammatory response, however the mechanism by which ?-syn initiates neuroinflammation is poorly understood. Silencing endogenous ?-syn results in a similar pattern of nigral degeneration observed following ?-syn overexpression. Here we aimed to test the hypothesis that loss of ?-syn function within nigrostriatal neurons results in neuronal dysfunction, which subsequently stimulates neuroinflammation. Adeno-associated virus (AAV) expressing an short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting endogenous ?-syn was unilaterally injected into the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) of adult rats, after which nigrostriatal pathology and indices of neuroinflammation were examined at 7, 10, 14 and 21 days post-surgery. Removing endogenous ?-syn from nigrostriatal neurons resulted in a rapid up-regulation of the major histocompatibility complex class 1 (MHC-1) within transduced nigral neurons. Nigral MHC-1 expression occurred prior to any overt cell death and coincided with the recruitment of reactive microglia and T-cells to affected neurons. Following the induction of neuroinflammation, ?-syn knockdown resulted in a 50% loss of nigrostriatal neurons in the SNc and a corresponding loss of nigrostriatal terminals and dopamine (DA) concentrations within the striatum. Expression of a control shRNA did not elicit any pathological changes. Silencing ?-syn within glutamatergic neurons of the cerebellum did not elicit inflammation or cell death, suggesting that toxicity initiated by ?-syn silencing is specific to DA neurons. These data provide evidence that loss of ?-syn function within nigrostriatal neurons initiates a neuronal-mediated neuroinflammatory cascade, involving both the innate and adaptive immune systems, which ultimately results in the death of affected neurons.

Dataset Information

An ?-synuclein AAV gene silencing vector ameliorates a behavioral deficit in a rat model of Parkinson's disease, but displays toxicity in dopamine neurons.

Publications

An α-synuclein AAV gene silencing vector ameliorates a behavioral deficit in a rat model of Parkinson's disease, but displays toxicity in dopamine neurons.

Similar Datasets

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