Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is pathologically characterized by the presence of intracytoplasmic Lewy bodies, the major components of which are filaments consisting of a-synuclein. Two recently identified point mutations in a-synuclein are the only known genetic causes of PD. a-Synuclein fibrils similar to the Lewy body filaments can be formed in vitro, and we h...

The present study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of salivary total and oligomeric α-synuclein levels in PD. Furthermore, we sought to explore the relationship between salivary total α-synuclein and α-synuclein SNP variants levels. 201 PD patients and 67 controls were recruited, of which there also had the genetic information of two positive α-synuclein (SNCA) loci. Salivary total α-synucl...

α-Synuclein is an intrinsically disordered protein whose aggregation is implicated in Parkinson's disease. A second member of the synuclein family, β-synuclein, shares significant sequence similarity with α-synuclein but is much more resistant to aggregation. β-Synuclein is missing an 11-residue stretch in the central non-β-amyloid component region that forms the core of α-synuclein amyloid fib...

α-Synuclein is a defining, key component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites in Parkinson's disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), as well as glial cytoplasmic inclusions in multiple system atrophy (MSA). The distribution and spreading of these pathologies are closely correlated with disease progression. Recent studies have revealed that intracerebral injection of synthetic α-synuclein ...

alpha-Synuclein has been implicated in various neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, by its participation in abnormal protein depositions. As the protein has been suggested to play a significant role in the formation of the deposits which might be responsible for neurodegeneration, there is a strong demand to screen for alpha-synuclein-interactive small mo...

Aggregation and neuron-to-neuron transmission are attributes of α-synuclein relevant to its pathogenetic role in human synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease. Intraparenchymal injections of fibrillar α-synuclein trigger widespread propagation of amyloidogenic protein species via mechanisms that require expression of endogenous α-synuclein and, possibly, its structural corruption by misfo...

Synucleinopathies are a group of neurodegenerative disorders that share common pathological intracellular deposits that contain aggregates of the protein ┙-synuclein. Substantial evidence suggests that fibril formation by ┙-synuclein is a critical step in the development of Parkinson's disease (PD). Indeed, in vitro, ┙-synuclein forms fibrils with morphologies and staining characteristics simil...

Impairment of the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation system has recently been suggested to be related to the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. In this study, we investigated whether intracellular alpha-synuclein affects proteasome activity in SH-SY5Y cells. To monitor intracellular proteasome activity, we used a reporter consisting of a shor...

Amyloid fibrils of α-synuclein are the main constituent of Lewy bodies deposited in substantial nigra of Parkinson's disease brains. α-Synuclein is an intrinsically disordered protein lacking compact secondary and tertiary structures. To enhance the understanding of its structure and function relationship, we utilized temperature treatment to study α-synuclein conformational changes and the sub...

The presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein, associated with Parkinson's Disease (PD), plays a role in dopaminergic neurotransmission and is implicated in impulse control disorders (ICDs) such as drug addiction. In this study we investigated a potential causal relationship between alpha-synuclein and impulsivity, by evaluating differences in motor impulsivity in the 5-choice serial reaction time ta...