Association of Glial Activation and α-Synuclein Pathology in Parkinson's Disease

Overview

Journal Neurosci Bull

Specialty Neurology

Date 2022 Oct 13

PMID 36229715

Authors

Rui Wang

Haigang Ren

Elena Kaznacheyeva

Xiaojun Lu

Guanghui Wang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The accumulation of pathological α-synuclein (α-syn) in the central nervous system and the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta are the neuropathological features of Parkinson's disease (PD). Recently, the findings of prion-like transmission of α-syn pathology have expanded our understanding of the region-specific distribution of α-syn in PD patients. Accumulating evidence suggests that α-syn aggregates are released from neurons and endocytosed by glial cells, which contributes to the clearance of α-syn. However, the activation of glial cells by α-syn species produces pro-inflammatory factors that decrease the uptake of α-syn aggregates by glial cells and promote the transmission of α-syn between neurons, which promotes the spread of α-syn pathology. In this article, we provide an overview of current knowledge on the role of glia and α-syn pathology in PD pathogenesis, highlighting the relationships between glial responses and the spread of α-syn pathology.

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