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Peripheral sensory neurons survive in the absence of α- and γ-synucleins

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Abstract

Physiological functions of α-synuclein, a protein implicated in certain types of neurodegeneration, and two other members of the same family, β-synuclein and γ-synuclein, are not clearly understood. It has been suggested that synucleins are involved in intracellular processes associated with survival of neurons and their response to stress, and that changes of synuclein ratio might have deteriorating effects on neurons. In wild-type mice, sensory neurons of the peripheral nervous system express α-synuclein and notably high levels of γ-synuclein, but targeted inactivation of either of these genes has no effect on these neurons. Here we produced double, α-synuclein/γ-synuclein null mutant mice, which develop normally, are fertile, and show no obvious signs of pathology in adulthood. Survival of α/γ-synuclein-deficient peripheral sensory neurons in vivo and in primary tissue culture is indistinguishable from survival of wild-type neurons. The absence of two synucleins does not lead to expression in sensory neurons of the third member of the family, β-synuclein. Therefore, our results demonstrate that neurons with normally high levels of synuclein(s) can develop and survive normally in the absence of any of these proteins. This suggests that other intraneuronal mechanisms and pathways effectively compensate the loss of synuclein function in null mutant animals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preclinical Veterinary Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Summerhall, EH9 1QH, Edinburgh, UK

    Katerina Papachroni, Natalia Ninkina, Julia Wanless & Vladimir L. Buchman

  2. Department of Biological Chemistry, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Katerina Papachroni & Anastasios Th. Kalofoutis

  3. Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, B334, Moscow, Russia

    Natalia Ninkina, Nikolai V. Gnuchev & Vladimir L. Buchman

Authors
  1. Katerina Papachroni
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  2. Natalia Ninkina
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  3. Julia Wanless
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  4. Anastasios Th. Kalofoutis
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  5. Nikolai V. Gnuchev
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  6. Vladimir L. Buchman
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Correspondence to Vladimir L. Buchman.

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Papachroni, K., Ninkina, N., Wanless, J. et al. Peripheral sensory neurons survive in the absence of α- and γ-synucleins. J Mol Neurosci 25, 157–164 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1385/JMN:25:2:157

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/JMN:25:2:157

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