How do you test for alpha-synuclein?

Claudio Soto from UTHealth in Houston used a test called protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) to detect small amounts of alpha-synuclein aggregates in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). PMCA works by exposing regular alpha-synuclein protein to samples from patients that might contain misfolded alpha-synuclein.

How do you induce alpha-synuclein aggregation?

Impairments in mitochondrial function or an increase in oxidative stress can induce protein modifications that facilitate the conversion of α-synuclein to a fibrillar pathway. Changes in membrane composition or changes in expression of binding partners can initiate α-synuclein aggregation.

What are alpha-synuclein aggregates?

α-Synuclein is an aggregation-prone neural protein that plays a central role in the pathogenesis of both sporadic and familial Parkinson’s disease (PD). Elevated level of wild-type α-synuclein is disease causative and demonstrates the essential need for precise regulation of α-synuclein expression.

How does alpha-synuclein cause cell death?

Evolving concepts on Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathology suggest that α-synuclein (aSYN) promote dopaminergic neuron dysfunction and death through accumulating in the mitochondria.

Where does alpha-synuclein come from?

Alpha-synuclein is a synuclein protein of unknown function primarily found in neural tissue, making up as much as 1% of all proteins in the cytosol of brain cells. It is predominantly expressed in the neocortex, hippocampus, substantia nigra, thalamus, and cerebellum.

What is misfolded alpha-synuclein?

Alpha-synuclein is an abundant presynaptic brain protein, misfolding, aggregation and fibrillation of which are implicated as critical factors in several neurodegenerative diseases.

How does alpha-synuclein spread?

Alpha-synuclein inclusions, the hallmarks of synucleinopathies, are suggested to spread along neuronal connections in a stereotypical pattern in the brains of patients. Ample evidence now supports that pathological forms of alpha-synuclein propagate in cell culture models and in vivo in a prion-like manner.

What does α synuclein do?

Alpha-synuclein is a neuronal protein that regulates synaptic vesicle trafficking and subsequent neurotransmitter release. It is abundant in the brain, while smaller amounts are found in the heart, muscle and other tissues.

What type of protein is alpha synuclein?

Alpha-synuclein is a small, 140-amino acid protein that localizes to presynaptic terminals, where it regulates neurotransmitter vesicle cycling.

What is the structure of alpha-synuclein?

The alpha-synuclein (α-syn) protein is encoded by the SNCA gene localized on the long arm of chromosome 4 (Chr 4q22. 1), composed of 140 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of approximately 15 kDa (Lee and Trojanowski, 2006; Bendor et al., 2013), which presents three domains.

What is the role of alpha-synuclein?

What type of protein is alpha-synuclein?

How are alpha-synuclein aggregates measured?

Alpha-Synuclein aggregates are measured using a sandwich immunoassay involving an anti-a Synuclein monoclonal antibody specific for alpha-Synuclein aggregate labelled with terbium-Cryptate or d2, ensuring assay quality, reproducibility, and signal quality. The specific HTRF signal generated is proportional to the alpha-Synuclein aggregates.

Can We monitor alpha-synuclein aggregation in Parkinson’s disease?

Monitoring alpha-synuclein aggregation is of great interest for studying the pathogenesis of synucleinopathies, a group of neurodegenerative diseases that includes Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), diffuse Lewy body disease (DLBD), and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

What is the alpha-synuclein quantification kit for?

The kit provides a solution to rapidly detect and quantify protein aggregates of human alpha-synuclein in cell culture or brain tissue extracts.

Is α-synuclein reproducible?

Reproducibility is a critical issue since α-synuclein shows erratic fibrillation behavior on its own.