Abstract
Alpha-synuclein (α-SYN) is expressed during neuronal development and is mainly involved in the modulation of synaptic transmission. Missense mutations and amplifications of this gene have been associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. Here, we evaluate whether α-SYN plays a detrimental role in the phenotypic and morphological regulation of neurons. We also identify the underlying mechanisms of this process in all-trans-retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiated SH-SY5Y cells, which represents dopaminergic (DAergic) phenotype. Our results indicate that overexpression of wild-type or mutant A53T α-SYN attenuated the RA-induced upregulation of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine transporter as well as neurite outgrowth in SH-SY5Y cells. In addition, GSK-3β inactivation and downstream β-catenin stabilization were associated with RA-induced differentiation, which was attenuated by α-SYN. Moreover, protein phosphatase 2A was positively regulated by α-SYN and was implicated in the α-SYN-mediated interference with RA signaling. The results obtained from SH-SY5Y cells were verified in primary cultures of mesencephalic DAergic neurons from A53T α-SYN transgenic mice, which represent high levels of α-SYN and protein phosphatase 2A in the midbrain. The number and length of neurites in tyrosine hydroxylase-positive as well as Tau-positive cells from A53T α-SYN transgenic mice were significantly lower than those in littermate controls. The current results provide novel insight into the role of α-SYN in the regulation of neuronal differentiation, including DAergic neurons. Identifying the signaling pathway involved in the α-SYN-mediated dysregulation of neuronal differentiation could lead to a better understanding of the developmental processes underlying α-SYN-related pathologies and facilitate the discovery of specifically targeted therapeutics.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- α-SYN:
-
α-Synuclein
- DAergic:
-
Dopaminergic
- DAT:
-
Dopamine transporter
- GSK-3:
-
Glycogen synthase kinase-3
- PP2A:
-
Protein phosphatase 2A
- RA:
-
All-trans-retinoic acid
- TH:
-
Tyrosine hydroxylase
References
Nakata Y, Yasuda T, Fukaya M, Yamamori S, Itakura M, Nihira T, Hayakawa H, Kawanami A et al (2012) Accumulation of alpha-synuclein triggered by presynaptic dysfunction. J Neurosci 32(48):17186–17196
Tozzi A, Costa C, Siliquini S, Tantucci M, Picconi B, Kurz A, Gispert S, Auburger G et al (2012) Mechanisms underlying altered striatal synaptic plasticity in old A53T-alpha synuclein overexpressing mice. Neurobiol Aging 33(8):1792–1799
Spillantini M, Schmidt M, Lee V, Trojanowski J, Jakes R, Goedert M (1997) Alpha-synuclein in Lewy bodies. Nature 388(6645):839–840
Ostrerova N, Petrucelli L, Farrer M, Mehta N, Choi P, Hardy J, Wolozin B (1999) Alpha-synuclein shares physical and functional homology with 14-3-3 proteins. J Neurosci 19(14):5782–5791
Polymeropoulos M, Lavedan C, Leroy E, Ide S, Dehejia A, Dutra A, Pike B, Root H et al (1997) Mutation in the alpha-synuclein gene identified in families with Parkinson’s disease. Science 276(5321):2045–2047
Krüger R, Kuhn W, Müller T, Woitalla D, Graeber M, Kösel S, Przuntek H, Epplen J et al (1998) Ala30Pro mutation in the gene encoding alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease. Nat Genet 18(2):106–108
Chu Y, Kordower JH (2007) Age-associated increases of alpha-synuclein in monkeys and humans are associated with nigrostriatal dopamine depletion: is this the target for Parkinson’s disease? Neurobiol Dis 25(1):134–149
Maurin H, Chong SA, Kraev I, Davies H, Kremer A, Seymour CM, Lechat B, Jaworski T et al (2014) Early structural and functional defects in synapses and myelinated axons in stratum lacunosum moleculare in two preclinical models for tauopathy. PLoS One 9(2):e87605
Purro SA, Galli S, Salinas PC (2014) Dysfunction of Wnt signaling and synaptic disassembly in neurodegenerative diseases. J Mol Cell Biol 6(1):75–80
Braak H, Del Tredici K, Rüb U, de Vos RA, Jansen Steur EN, Braak E (2003) Staging of brain pathology related to sporadic Parkinson’s disease. Neurobiol Aging 24(2):197–211
Langston JW (2006) The Parkinson’s complex: parkinsonism is just the tip of the iceberg. Ann Neurol 59(4):591–596
Kim S, Park JM, Moon J, Choi HJ (2014) Alpha-synuclein interferes with cAMP/PKA-dependent upregulation of dopamine beta-hydroxylase and is associated with abnormal adaptive responses to immobilization stress. Exp Neurol 252:63–74
Kim SS, Moon KR, Choi HJ (2011) Interference of alpha-synuclein with cAMP/PKA-dependent CREB signaling for tyrosine hydroxylase gene expression in SK-N-BE(2)C cells. Arch Pharm Res 34(5):837–845
Lee HJ, Lee K, Im H (2012) Alpha-synuclein modulates neurite outgrowth by interacting with SPTBN1. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 424(3):497–502
Liu G, Wang P, Li X, Li Y, Xu S, Ueda K, Chan P, Yu S (2013) Alpha-synuclein promotes early neurite outgrowth in cultured primary neurons. J Neural Transm 120(9):1331–1343
Volpicelli-Daley LA, Luk KC, Patel TP, Tanik SA, Riddle DM, Stieber A, Meaney DF, Trojanowski JQ et al (2011) Exogenous alpha-synuclein fibrils induce Lewy body pathology leading to synaptic dysfunction and neuron death. Neuron 72(1):57–71
Castaño Z, Gordon-Weeks PR, Kypta RM (2010) The neuron-specific isoform of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta is required for axon growth. J Neurochem 113(1):117–130
Castelo-Branco G, Rawal N, Arenas E (2004) GSK-3beta inhibition/beta-catenin stabilization in ventral midbrain precursors increases differentiation into dopamine neurons. J Cell Sci 117(Pt 24):5731–5737
Hur EM, Zhou FQ (2010) GSK3 signalling in neural development. Nat Rev Neurosci 11(8):539–551
Yuan Y, Sun J, Zhao M, Hu J, Wang X, Du G, Chen NH (2010) Overexpression of alpha-synuclein down-regulates BDNF expression. Cell Mol Neurobiol 30(6):939–946
Joshi S, Guleria R, Pan J, DiPette D, Singh US (2006) Retinoic acid receptors and tissue-transglutaminase mediate short-term effect of retinoic acid on migration and invasion of neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells. Oncogene 25(2):240–247
Korecka JA, van Kesteren RE, Blaas E, Spitzer SO, Kamstra JH, Smit AB, Swaab DF, Verhaagen J et al (2013) Phenotypic characterization of retinoic acid differentiated SH-SY5Y cells by transcriptional profiling. PLoS One 8(5):e63862
Lim J, Choi HS, Choi HJ (2015) Estrogen-related receptor gamma regulates dopaminergic neuronal phenotype by activating GSK3beta/NFAT signaling in SH-SY5Y cells. J Neurochem 133(4):544–557
Biedler JL, Roffler-Tarlov S, Schachner M, Freedman LS (1978) Multiple neurotransmitter synthesis by human neuroblastoma cell lines and clones. Cancer Res 38(11 Pt 1):3751–3757
Berling B, Wille H, Röll B, Mandelkow EM, Garner C, Mandelkow E (1994) Phosphorylation of microtubule-associated proteins MAP2a,b and MAP2c at Ser136 by proline-directed kinases in vivo and in vitro. Eur J Cell Biol 64(1):120–130
Galderisi U, Jori FP, Giordano A (2003) Cell cycle regulation and neural differentiation. Oncogene 22(33):5208–5219
Lee MH, Nikolic M, Baptista CA, Lai E, Tsai LH, Massague J (1996) The brain-specific activator p35 allows Cdk5 to escape inhibition by p27Kip1 in neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 93(8):3259–3263
Baldassarre G, Boccia A, Bruni P, Sandomenico C, Barone MV, Pepe S, Angrisano T, Belletti B et al (2000) Retinoic acid induces neuronal differentiation of embryonal carcinoma cells by reducing proteasome-dependent proteolysis of the cyclin-dependent inhibitor p27. Cell Growth Differ 11(10):517–526
Joksimovic M, Awatramani R (2014) Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in midbrain dopaminergic neuron specification and neurogenesis. J Mol Cell Biol 6(1):27–33
Peng X, Tehranian R, Dietrich P, Stefanis L, Perez RG (2005) Alpha-synuclein activation of protein phosphatase 2A reduces tyrosine hydroxylase phosphorylation in dopaminergic cells. J Cell Sci 118(Pt 15):3523–3530
Lee YI, Seo M, Kim Y, Kim SY, Kang UG, Kim YS, Juhnn YS (2005) Membrane depolarization induces the undulating phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase 3beta, and this dephosphorylation involves protein phosphatases 2A and 2B in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. J Biol Chem 280(23):22044–22052
Zhou XW, Winblad B, Guan Z, Pei JJ (2009) Interactions between glycogen synthase kinase 3beta, protein kinase B, and protein phosphatase 2A in tau phosphorylation in mouse N2a neuroblastoma cells. J Alzheimers Dis 17(4):929–937
Stefanis L (2012) Alpha-synuclein in Parkinson’s disease. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med 2(2):a009399
Winner B, Lie DC, Rockenstein E, Aigner R, Aigner L, Masliah E, Kuhn HG, Winkler J (2004) Human wild-type alpha-synuclein impairs neurogenesis. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol 63(11):1155–1166
Winner B, Rockenstein E, Lie DC, Aigner R, Mante M, Bogdahn U, Couillard-Despres S, Masliah E et al (2008) Mutant alpha-synuclein exacerbates age-related decrease of neurogenesis. Neurobiol Aging 29(6):913–925
Crews L, Mizuno H, Desplats P, Rockenstein E, Adame A, Patrick C, Winner B, Winkler J et al (2008) Alpha-synuclein alters Notch-1 expression and neurogenesis in mouse embryonic stem cells and in the hippocampus of transgenic mice. J Neurosci 28(16):4250–4260
Lotharius J, Brundin P (2002) Impaired dopamine storage resulting from alpha-synuclein mutations may contribute to the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease. Hum Mol Genet 11(20):2395–2407
Lee F, Liu F, Pristupa Z, Niznik H (2001) Direct binding and functional coupling of alpha-synuclein to the dopamine transporters accelerate dopamine-induced apoptosis. FASEB J 15(6):916–926
Perez R, Waymire J, Lin E, Liu J, Guo F, Zigmond M (2002) A role for alpha-synuclein in the regulation of dopamine biosynthesis. J Neurosci 22(8):3090–3099
Zaja-Milatovic S, Milatovic D, Schantz AM, Zhang J, Montine KS, Samii A, Deutch AY, Montine TJ (2005) Dendritic degeneration in neostriatal medium spiny neurons in Parkinson disease. Neurology 64(3):545–547
Patt S, Gertz HJ, Gerhard L, Cervos-Navarro J (1991) Pathological changes in dendrites of substantia nigra neurons in Parkinson’s disease: a Golgi study. Histol Histopathol 6(3):373–380
Takenouchi T, Hashimoto M, Hsu LJ, Mackowski B, Rockenstein E, Mallory M, Masliah E (2001) Reduced neuritic outgrowth and cell adhesion in neuronal cells transfected with human alpha-synuclein. Mol Cell Neurosci 17(1):141–150
Li W, Lesuisse C, Xu Y, Troncoso JC, Price DL, Lee MK (2004) Stabilization of alpha-synuclein protein with aging and familial Parkinson’s disease-linked A53T mutation. J Neurosci 24(33):7400–7409
Hegarty SV, Sullivan AM, O’Keeffe GW (2013) BMP2 and GDF5 induce neuronal differentiation through a Smad dependant pathway in a model of human midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Mol Cell Neurosci 56:263–271
Trzaska KA, King CC, Li KY, Kuzhikandathil EV, Nowycky MC, Ye JH, Rameshwar P (2009) Brain-derived neurotrophic factor facilitates maturation of mesenchymal stem cell-derived dopamine progenitors to functional neurons. J Neurochem 110(3):1058–1069
Jiang H, Guo W, Liang X, Rao Y (2005) Both the establishment and the maintenance of neuronal polarity require active mechanisms: critical roles of GSK-3beta and its upstream regulators. Cell 120(1):123–135
Yoshimura T, Arimura N, Kaibuchi K (2006) Molecular mechanisms of axon specification and neuronal disorders. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1086:116–125. doi:10.1196/annals.1377.013
Miller JR, Moon RT (1996) Signal transduction through beta-catenin and specification of cell fate during embryogenesis. Genes Dev 10(20):2527–2539
Otero JJ, Fu W, Kan L, Cuadra AE, Kessler JA (2004) Beta-catenin signaling is required for neural differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Development 131(15):3545–3557
Petit-Paitel A (2010) GSK-3beta: a central kinase for neurodegenerative diseases? Med Sci (Paris) 26(5):516–521
Lange C, Mix E, Frahm J, Glass A, Muller J, Schmitt O, Schmole AC, Klemm K et al (2011) Small molecule GSK-3 inhibitors increase neurogenesis of human neural progenitor cells. Neurosci Lett 488(1):36–40
Haavik J, Schelling DL, Campbell DG, Andersson KK, Flatmark T, Cohen P (1989) Identification of protein phosphatase 2A as the major tyrosine hydroxylase phosphatase in adrenal medulla and corpus striatum: evidence from the effects of okadaic acid. FEBS Lett 251(1–2):36–42
Lou H, Montoya SE, Alerte TN, Wang J, Wu J, Peng X, Hong CS, Friedrich EE et al (2010) Serine 129 phosphorylation reduces the ability of alpha-synuclein to regulate tyrosine hydroxylase and protein phosphatase 2A in vitro and in vivo. J Biol Chem 285(23):17648–17661
Farrell KF, Krishnamachari S, Villanueva E, Lou H, Alerte TN, Peet E, Drolet RE, Perez RG (2014) Non-motor parkinsonian pathology in aging A53T alpha-synuclein mice is associated with progressive synucleinopathy and altered enzymatic function. J Neurochem 128(4):536–546
Hernandez F, Langa E, Cuadros R, Avila J, Villanueva N (2010) Regulation of GSK3 isoforms by phosphatases PP1 and PP2A. Mol Cell Biochem 344(1–2):211–215
Chen J, Martin BL, Brautigan DL (1992) Regulation of protein serine-threonine phosphatase type-2A by tyrosine phosphorylation. Science 257(5074):1261–1264
Li W, Xie L, Chen Z, Zhu Y, Sun Y, Miao Y, Xu Z, Han X (2010) Cantharidin, a potent and selective PP2A inhibitor, induces an oxidative stress-independent growth inhibition of pancreatic cancer cells through G2/M cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. Cancer Sci 101(5):1226–1233
Chen BS, Ho SJ (2014) The stochastic evolutionary game for a population of biological networks under natural selection. Evol Bioinform Online 10:17–38
Luo D, Fan X, Ma C, Fan T, Wang X, Chang N, Li L, Zhang Y et al (2014) A study on the effect of neurogenesis and regulation of GSK3beta/PP2A expression in acupuncture treatment of neural functional damage caused by focal ischemia in MCAO rats. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2014:962343
Ahn KH, Kim YS, Kim SY, Huh Y, Park C, Jeong JW (2009) Okadaic acid protects human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells from 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion-induced apoptosis. Neurosci Lett 449(2):93–97
Atkinson T, Whitfield J, Chakravarthy B (2009) The phosphatase inhibitor, okadaic acid, strongly protects primary rat cortical neurons from lethal oxygen-glucose deprivation. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 378(3):394–398
Yi KD, Chung J, Pang P, Simpkins JW (2005) Role of protein phosphatases in estrogen-mediated neuroprotection. J Neurosci 25(31):7191–7198
Dwivedi S, Rajasekar N, Hanif K, Nath C, Shukla R (2016) Sulforaphane ameliorates okadaic acid-induced memory impairment in rats by activating the Nrf2/HO-1 antioxidant pathway. Mol Neurobiol 53(8):5310–5323
Knight RA, Verkhratsky A (2010) Neurodegenerative diseases: failures in brain connectivity? Cell Death Differ 17(7):1069–1070
Le Grand JN, Gonzalez-Cano L, Pavlou MA, Schwamborn JC (2015) Neural stem cells in Parkinson’s disease: a role for neurogenesis defects in onset and progression. Cell Mol Life Sci 72(4):773–797
Oliveira LM, Falomir-Lockhart LJ, Botelho MG, Lin KH, Wales P, Koch JC, Gerhardt E, Taschenberger H et al (2015) Elevated alpha-synuclein caused by SNCA gene triplication impairs neuronal differentiation and maturation in Parkinson’s patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Death Dis 6:e1994
Zharikov AD, Cannon JR, Tapias V, Bai Q, Horowitz MP, Shah V, El Ayadi A, Hastings TG et al (2015) shRNA targeting alpha-synuclein prevents neurodegeneration in a Parkinson’s disease model. J Clin Invest 125(7):2721–2735
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), which is funded by the Ministry of Education (2012R1A1A3011420, 2015R1D1A1A01059598, and 2015M3A9E1028326 to H.J. Choi and 2011-0030928, 2011-0030049, and 2012-003338 to H. Seo).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
S Kim and J Lim contributed equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, S., Lim, J., Bang, Y. et al. Alpha-Synuclein Suppresses Retinoic Acid-Induced Neuronal Differentiation by Targeting the Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway. Mol Neurobiol 55, 1607–1619 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-016-0370-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-016-0370-9