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An Israeli-British-German study published today (5 June) in Acta Neuropathologica reveals a new method of detecting aggregation of alpha-synuclein protein, characteristic of Parkinson's disease.
Earlier detection could allow more effective treatment of the progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disease that affects speech, posture, gait, digestion, sleep, impulse control and cognition of a million. Americans and 10 million people worldwide.
When a patient is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, up to 80% of the dopaminergic cells in the patient Subtania Nigra part of the brain are already dead, probably because of the toxicity resulting from the aggregation of alpha-synuclein.
"We have developed a new method of tracking the early stages of alpha-synuclein aggregation with the help of a super-resolution microscopy and a advanced badysis, "said Professor Uri Ashery of Tel Aviv University, co-author of the study and CEO of Sagol School of Neuroscience at TAU and Sage Faculty of Life Sciences .
"Together with our colleagues at Cambridge University, who developed a specific mouse model for Parkinson's disease, we were able to detect different stages of aggregation of this protein. We correlated aggregation with the deteriorated loss of neuronal activity and deficits in mice behavior, "explained Ashery.
"This is an important step forward in the world of Parkinson's research," he said.
Monitoring the effects of treatment
Dana Bar-On, co-author of the Sagol School of Neuroscience, said the new early detection method could also be used to monitor the effects of drugs on the aggregation of alpha-synuclein.
Researchers from the TAU and the Max Planck Institute in Göttingen and the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich were able to illustrate the effect of a specific drug, anle138b, on this protein aggregation and correlate these results. and the normalization of the Parkinson's phenotype in mice.
"We hope this research can be implemented for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in patients," said Bar-On. "We are currently working on implementing minimally invasive methods with Parkinson's patients."
Scientists plan to expand their research to family members of patients with Parkinson's disease.
"By detecting aggregates using minimally invasive methods in relatives of patients with Parkinson's disease, we can perform early detection and intervention as well as the ability to track and treat the disease even before the symptoms begin. are not detected, "said Ashery.
Ashery has conducted several other groundbreaking studies on neurological diseases. In 2013, ISRAEL21c reported on the team's identification of microRNAs that pre-regulate protein levels in the brain of mice with Alzheimer's disease.
In 2017, we reported on the Ashery study showing that hyperbaric oxygen therapy may reduce the symptoms experienced by people with Alzheimer's disease.
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