BDNF is induced by wild-type alpha-synuclein but not by the two mutants, A30P or A53T, in glioma cell line

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative diseases but its etiology is unclear. Alpha-synuclein (alpha-SN) is a major component of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, and its missense mutations, A30P and A53T, cause familial PD. In PD, alpha-SN-positive glial inclusions are distributed mainly in the dorso-medial region of the substantia nigra, which contains most of the surviving dopaminergic neurons, suggesting that alpha-SN expression might have a neuroprotective function in glial cells. To investigate this hypothesis, we established alpha-SN transfected C6 glioma cell line clones and evaluated the expression of neurotrophins using semi-quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was induced by overexpression of wild-type alpha-SN but not by that of A30P and A53T. These data suggest that the pathogenic alpha-SN mutations, A30P or A53T, are linked to the loss of BDNF production in glial cells.