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Updated: Jun 8, 2026

Detection of Disease-associated α-synuclein by Enhanced ELISA in the Brain of Transgenic Mice Overexpressing Human A53T Mutated α-synuclein
Published on: May 30, 2015
Alpha- and beta-synucleins mRNA expression in lymphocytes of schizophrenia patients
Mohammad Reza Noori-Daloii1, Majid Kheirollahi, Parinaz Mahbod
1Department of Medical Genetics, School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. nooridaloii@sina.tums.ac.ir
Abstract:
Alpha-synuclein is largely, but not entirely, expressed in the central nervous system. A high concentration of alpha-synuclein in presynaptic terminals can mimic the normal function of endogenous alpha-synuclein in regulating synaptic vesicle mobilization at nerve terminals. Beta-synuclein protein is seen primarily in brain tissue and it is suggested that beta-synuclein acts as an inhibitor of alpha-synuclein aggregation, which occurs in neurodegenerative diseases. With respect to the role of synucleins in neurologic diseases such as Parkinson's disease, we decided to study the changes of alpha- and beta-synucleins in schizophrenia patients in relation to a control group. For this purpose, total RNA was extracted from the lymphocytes of patients and controls and then cDNA was synthesized and used for real-time polymerase chain reaction. Calculation of the relative expression of alpha- and beta-synucleins showed downregulation in patients in comparison to the control group. Independent two-tailed t-test showed that beta-synuclein mRNA expression in the control group was significantly higher than that in the patient group (p < 0.01), but downregulation of alpha-synuclein gene was not significant. Therefore, a significant downregulation of beta-synuclein mRNA expression appears to be a suitable biomarker for the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
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