Inhibition of alpha-synuclein aggregation by multifunctional dopamine agonists assessed by a novel in vitro assay and an in vivo Drosophila synucleinopathy model.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Aggregation of alpha synuclein (?-syn) leading to dopaminergic neuronal death has been recognized as one of the main pathogenic factors in the initiation and progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). Consequently, ?-syn has been targeted for the development of therapeutics for PD. We have developed a novel assay to screen compounds with ?-syn modulating properties by mimicking recent findings from in vivo animal studies involving intrastriatal administration of pre-formed fibrils in mice, resulting in increased ?-syn pathology accompanying the formation of Lewy-body (LB) type inclusions. We found that in vitro generated ?-syn pre-formed fibrils induce seeding of ?-syn monomers to produce aggregates in a dose-and time-dependent manner under static conditions in vitro. These aggregates were toxic towards rat pheochromocytoma cells (PC12). Our novel multifunctional dopamine agonists D-519 and D-520 exhibited significant neuroprotection in this assay, while their parent molecules did not. The neuroprotective properties of our compounds were further evaluated in a Drosophila model of synucleinopathy. Both of our compounds showed protective properties in fly eyes against the toxicity caused by ?-syn. Thus, our in vitro results on modulation of aggregation and toxicity of ?-syn by our novel assay were further validated with the in vivo experiments.
SUBMITTER: Yedlapudi D
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5137034 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
ACCESS DATA