Overexpression of alpha-synuclein following methamphetamine: is it good or bad?
alpha-Synuclein is a presynaptic protein involved in various degenerative disorders now defined as synucleinopathies. These include neurological diseases that share a few pathological features consisting of aggregates of both normal and altered alpha-synuclein within specific neuronal populations and/or glial cells. The prototype of synucleinopathies is represented by Parkinson's disease (PD) in which alpha-synuclein is identified as a constant component of neuronal pale eosinophilic inclusions: "the Lewy Bodies." In the present article, we discuss the potential significance of amphetamine-induced overexpression of alpha-synuclein in light of clinical findings showing neurodegeneration following overexpression of alpha-synuclein and recent experimental studies that measured increased expression of alpha-synuclein following amphetamine derivatives.
Mauceli
Giuseppe
G
Department of Human Morphology and Applied Biology, University of Pisa, Via Roma, 55, I-56126 Pisa, Italy. f.fornai@med.unipi.it
Busceti
Carla I
CI
Pellegrini
Antonio
A
Soldani
Paola
P
Lenzi
Paola
P
Paparelli
Antonio
A
Fornai
Francesco
F
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000627:therapeutic use* / Q000633:toxicity*; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology
D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D008694:Methamphetamine