Endogenous Catecholamine Enhances the Dysfunction of Unfolded Protein Response and Alpha-synuclein Oligomerization in PC12 Cells Overexpressing Human Alpha-synuclein

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective loss of dopaminergic neurons and the presence of Lewy bodies. alpha-Synuclein is a major component of Lewy bodies. Recently, many studies have focused on the interaction between alpha-synuclein and catecholamine in the pathogenesis of PD. However, no detailed relationship between cathecholamine and alpha-synuclein cytotoxicity has been elucidated. Therefore, this study established PC12 cell lines which overexpress human alpha-synuclein in a tetracycline-inducible manner. The overexpression of human alpha-synuclein increased the number of apoptotic cells in a long-term culture. Moreover, human alpha-synuclein expressing PC12 cells demonstrated an increased vulnerability to several stressors in a short culture period. Thapsigargin increased the SDS soluble oligomers of alpha-synuclein associated with catecholamine-quinone. The unfolded protein response (UPR) study showed that thapsigargin increased eIF2alpha phosphorylation and nuclear GADD153/CHOP induction under alpha-synuclein overexpressed conditions. The activities of the ATF6alpha and IRE1alpha pathways decreased. These findings suggest that an overexpression of alpha-synuclein partly inactivates the UPR. alpha-Methyltyrosine inhibited the dysfunction of the UPR caused by an overexpression of human alpha-synuclein. Therefore, these findings suggest that the coexistence of human alpha-synuclein with catecholamine enhances the endoplasmic reticulum stress-related toxicity in PD pathogenesis.