Gamma-synuclein pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Peters, Owen Morgan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6824-0663, Shelkovnikova, Tatyana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1367-5309, Highley, John Robin, Cooper-Knock, Johnathan, Hortobágyi, Tibor, Troakes, Claire, Ninkina, Natalia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8570-5648 and Buchman, Vladimir L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7631-8352 2015. Gamma-synuclein pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology 2 (1) , pp. 29-37. 10.1002/acn3.143

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Abstract

Objective The prominent histopathological feature of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the presence of intracellular inclusions in degenerating neurons and their axons. The appearance and localization of these pathological structures depend on an aggregated protein that forms their scaffold. We investigated if γ-synuclein, an aggregation-prone protein highly expressed in healthy motor neurons, and predominantly localized in their axons and synaptic terminals is involved in ALS pathology. Methods Immunostaining of histological sections and sequential protein extraction from postmortem neural samples followed by immunoblotting. Results Immunohistochemical screening revealed a subset of sporadic (9 of 31) and familial (8 of 23) ALS cases with a novel type of pathology characterized by the accumulation of γ-synuclein in distinct profiles within the dorsolateral column. Sequential fractionation of proteins from the spinal cord tissues revealed detergent-insoluble γ-synuclein species specifically in the dorsolateral corticospinal tracts of a ALS patient with γ-synuclein-positive profiles in this region. These profiles are negative for protein markers commonly found in pathological inclusions in the spinal cord of ALS patients and most probably represent degenerated axons of upper motor neurons that have lost their neurofilaments. A subset of these profiles was found in association with phagocytic cells positive for Mac-2/Galectin-3. A smaller subset of studied ALS cases (4 of 54) contained large cytoplasmic inclusions in the cell body of remaining spinal motor neurons. Interpretation Our observations suggest that pathological aggregation of γ-synuclein might contribute to the pathogenesis of ALS.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	R Medicine > RB Pathology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN:	2328-9503
Funders:	Wellcome Trust
Date of Acceptance:	17 October 2014
Last Modified:	14 May 2024 15:26
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/69650

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