Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2025
09:16
Exogenous Administration of Microsomes-associated Alpha-synuclein Aggregates to Primary Neurons As a Powerful Cell Model of Fibrils Formation
Published on: June 26, 2018
7.6K
Cortico-amygdala synaptic structural abnormalities produced by templated aggregation of α-synuclein.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|May 27, 2024
Summary
Pathologic alpha-synuclein (α-syn) in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) alters synaptic structure, not synapse number, in mice. These changes in synaptic architecture may explain cognitive and emotional impairments in synucleinopathies like Parkinson's disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Synaptic Biology
- Neurodegenerative Diseases
Background:
- Parkinson's disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) feature alpha-synuclein (α-syn) inclusions in the amygdala, impacting cognition and emotion.
- The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is crucial for these functions and receives input from the thalamus and cortex.
- Understanding how α-syn pathology affects the BLA requires animal models.
Conclusions:
- Pathologic α-synuclein causes significant alterations to BLA synaptic architecture, not synapse loss.
- These structural changes may underlie the behavioral and cognitive deficits observed in synucleinopathies.
- Findings align with observations in human DLB cortex and non-human primate PD models.
Related Concept Videos
03:03Amyloid Fibrils
9.5K
Amyloid fibrils are aggregates of misfolded proteins. Under most circumstances, misfolded proteins are either refolded by chaperone proteins or degraded by the proteasome. However, in the case of a mutation or a disease, these proteins can accumulate to form large clusters and often further assemble to form elongated fibers, called fibrils.
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining,...
Amyloid deposits were observed as early as 1639 in the liver and the spleen. In 1854, Rudolph Virchow performed iodine staining,...
9.5K
01:37Neural Regulation
39.4K
Digestion begins with a cephalic phase that prepares the digestive system to receive food. When our brain processes visual or olfactory information about food, it triggers impulses in the cranial nerves innervating the salivary glands and stomach to prepare for food.
39.4K