Endogenous Alpha-Synuclein is Essential for the Transfer of Pathology by Exosome-Enriched Extracellular Vesicles, Following Inoculation with Preformed Fibrils in vivo

Aging Dis. 2024 Apr 1;15(2):869-892. doi: 10.14336/AD.2023.0614.

Abstract

The main pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD) and related synucleinopathies is the presence of intracellular proteinaceous aggregates, enriched in the presynaptic protein alpha-Synuclein (α-Syn). α-Syn association with exosomes has been previously documented both as a physiological process of secretion and as a pathological process of disease transmission, however, critical information about the mechanisms governing this interplay is still lacking. To address this, we utilized the α-Syn preformed fibril (PFF) mouse model of PD, as a source of brain-derived exosome-enriched extracellular vesicles (ExE-EVs) and assessed their pathogenic capacity following intrastriatal injections in host wild type (WT) mouse brain. We further investigated the impact of the fibrillar α-Syn on the exosomal cargo independent of the endogenous α-Syn, by isolating ExE-EVs from PFF-injected α-Syn knockout mice. Although PFF inoculation does not alter the morphology, size distribution, and quantity of brain-derived ExE-EVs, it triggers changes in the exosomal proteome related to synaptic and mitochondrial function, as well as metabolic processes. Importantly, we showed that the presence of the endogenous α-Syn is essential for the ExE-EVs to acquire a pathogenic capacity, allowing them to mediate disease transmission by inducing phosphorylated-α-Syn pathology. Notably, misfolded α-Syn containing ExE-EVs when injected in WT mice were able to induce astrogliosis and synaptic alterations in the host brain, at very early stages of α-Syn pathology, preceding the formation of the insoluble α-Syn accumulations. Collectively, our data suggest that exosomal cargo defines their ability to spread α-Syn pathology.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Exosomes* / genetics
  • Extracellular Vesicles* / metabolism
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Parkinson Disease* / metabolism
  • Synucleinopathies* / metabolism
  • alpha-Synuclein / genetics

Substances

  • alpha-Synuclein

Grants and funding

This work has been supported by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH-CREATE-INNOVATE (Project Code: T1EDK-03884 & T2EDK-02813 to KV) and “The Greek Research Infrastructure for Personalised Medicine (pMED-GR)” (MIS 5002802), which is implemented under the Action “Reinforcement of the Research and Innovation Infrastructure”, funded by the Operational Programme "Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation" (NSRF 2014-2020) and co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). We would like to thank Drs. Hilal Lashuel and Anne-Laure Mahul Mellier (EPFL, Switzerland) for providing the mouse PFF material and Professor Omar El Agnaf for providing the mouse monoclonal anti-phospho-α-Syn (5B9) antibody. We would like to thank Manuela Leandrou, Marianna Kokoli and Maria Fouka for technical advice and assistance, as well as Dr Giannis Vatsellas from the Greek Genome Center at BRFAA for generating the RNAseq data. We also thank Dr. Anastasios Delis and the Bioimaging Core Unit of BRFAA for technical advice and assistance and Dr. Ismini Kloukina for assistance with acquisition of EM images.