An Efficient Procedure for Removal and Inactivation of Alpha-Synuclein Assemblies from Laboratory Materials

Preformed α-synuclein fibrils seed the aggregation of soluble α-synuclein in cultured cells and in vivo. This, and other findings, has kindled the idea that α-synuclein fibrils possess prion-like properties.

As α-synuclein fibrils should not be considered as innocuous, there is a need for decontamination and inactivation procedures for laboratory benches and non-disposable laboratory material.

We assessed the effectiveness of different procedures designed to disassemble α-synuclein fibrils and reduce their infectivity. We examined different commercially available detergents to remove α-synuclein assemblies adsorbed on materials that are not disposable and that are most found in laboratories (e.g. plastic, glass, aluminum or stainless steel surfaces).

We show that methods designed to decrease PrP prion infectivity neither effectively remove α-synuclein assemblies adsorbed to different materials commonly used in the laboratory nor disassemble the fibrillar form of the protein with efficiency. In contrast, both commercial detergents and SDS detached α-synuclein assemblies from contaminated surfaces and disassembled the fibrils.

We describe three cleaning procedures that effectively remove and disassemble α-synuclein seeds. The methods rely on the use of detergents that are compatible with most non-disposable tools in a laboratory. The procedures are easy to implement and significantly decrease any potential risks associated to handling α-synuclein assemblies.