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α-Synuclein Seeding Assay Using Cultured Cells

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Experimental Models of Parkinson’s Disease

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2322))

Abstract

α-Synuclein, a presynaptic protein, is involved in synaptic vesicle dynamics in response to neuronal activity. Mutations of the α-synuclein gene and the neuronal deposition of α-synuclein, called Lewy bodies, are linked to the development of Parkinson’s disease. α-Synuclein has a prion-like property that converts its physiological protein conformation to a pathogenic one, forming disease-causing fibrils. Aggregation of these fibrils and subsequent inclusion formation are suggested to interfere with vesicular trafficking and organelle function in neurons. Thus, detection of a prion-like property of α-synuclein and the evaluation of its modifying factors are required to understand the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and to develop new therapies. In this chapter, we describe a cell-based assay for detecting α-synuclein propagation.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Masato Hasegawa and Takashi Nonaka (Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science) for providing materials and advice for this protocol. This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (20H03453 and 20K21531 to Y.I.) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Jun Ogata and Daisaku Takemoto contributed equally to this chapter.

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Author notes

  1. Jun Ogata and Daisaku Takemoto contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research for Parkinson’s Disease, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Jun Ogata, Daisaku Takemoto, Yuzuru Imai & Nobutaka Hattori

  2. Juntendo Advanced Research Institute for Health Science, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Jun Ogata

  3. Department of Diagnosis, Prevention and Treatment of Dementia, Juntendo University Graduate of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Shotaro Shimonaka & Nobutaka Hattori

  4. Department of Neurology, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuzuru Imai & Nobutaka Hattori

Authors
  1. Jun Ogata
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  2. Daisaku Takemoto
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  3. Shotaro Shimonaka
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  4. Yuzuru Imai
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  5. Nobutaka Hattori
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yuzuru Imai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Research for Parkinson’s Disease, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuzuru Imai

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© 2021 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

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Ogata, J., Takemoto, D., Shimonaka, S., Imai, Y., Hattori, N. (2021). α-Synuclein Seeding Assay Using Cultured Cells. In: Imai, Y. (eds) Experimental Models of Parkinson’s Disease. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2322. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1495-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1495-2_3

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1494-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1495-2

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