From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rafal@smigrodzki.org)
Date: Thu May 01 2003 - 16:09:27 MDT
Regarding the role of alpha-synuclein aggregates in PD - this article:
Manning-Bog AB, McCormack AL, Purisai MG, Bolin LM, Di Monte DA. Related
Articles, Links
Alpha-synuclein overexpression protects against paraquat-induced
neurodegeneration.
J Neurosci. 2003 Apr 15;23(8):3095-9.
just hot off the press, indicates that the synuclein aggregates themselves
do not cause cell death, as long as there is sufficient expression (and
presumably sufficient protein concentration) of alpha-synuclein. This
indicates that alpha synuclein is a protective protein, induced by some
types of stress, and apoptosis is not caused by the aggregates by a toxic
gain of function mechanism, but rather by loss of the protective function
(in some mutants) or by its inability to counteract the cause of stress.
Rafal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu May 01 2003 - 13:20:47 MDT