Unique ?-synuclein pathology within the amygdala in Lewy body dementia: implications for disease initiation and progression.
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ABSTRACT: The protein ?-synuclein (?syn) forms pathologic aggregates in a number of neurodegenerative diseases including Lewy body dementia (LBD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). It is unclear why diseases such as LBD may develop widespread ?syn pathology, while in Alzheimer's disease with amygdala restricted Lewy bodies (AD/ALB) the ?syn aggregates remain localized. The amygdala contains ?syn aggregates in both LBD and in AD/ALB; to understand why ?syn pathology continues to progress in LBD but not in AD/ALB, tissue from the amygdala and other regions were obtained from 14 cases of LBD, 9 cases of AD/ALB, and 4 controls for immunohistochemical and biochemical characterization. Utilizing a panel of previously characterized ?syn antibodies, numerous unique pathologies differentiating LBD and AD/ALB were revealed; particularly the presence of dense neuropil ?syn aggregates, astrocytic ?syn, and ?syn-containing dystrophic neurites within senile plaques. Within LBD, these unique pathologies were predominantly present within the amygdala. Biochemically, the amygdala in LBD prominently contained specific carboxy-truncated forms of ?syn which are highly prone to aggregate, suggesting that the amygdala may be prone to initiate development of ?syn pathology. Similar to carboxy-truncated ?syn, it was demonstrated herein that the presence of aggregation prone A53T ?syn is sufficient to drive misfolding of wild-type ?syn in human disease. Overall, this study identifies within the amygdala in LBD the presence of unique strain-like variation in ?syn pathology that may be a determinant of disease progression.
SUBMITTER: Sorrentino ZA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6718048 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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