title: Redox reactions of the α-synuclein-Cu(2+) complex and their effects on neuronal cell viability.
abstract: α-Synuclein (α-syn), a presynaptic protein believed to play an important role in neuropathology in Parkinson's disease (PD), is known to bind Cu(2+). Cu(2+) has been shown to accelerate the aggregation of α-syn to form various toxic aggregates in vitro. Copper is also a redox-active metal whose complexes with amyloidogenic proteins/peptides have been linked to oxidative stress in major neurodegenerative diseases. In this work, the formation of the Cu(2+) complex with α-syn or with an N-terminal peptide, α-syn(1-19), was confirmed with electrospray-mass spectrometry (ES-MS). The redox potentials of the Cu(2+) complex with α-syn (α-syn-Cu(2+)) and α-syn(1-19) were determined to be 0.018 and 0.053 V, respectively. Furthermore, the Cu(2+) center(s) can be readily reduced to Cu(+), and possible reactions of α-syn-Cu(2+) with cellular species (e.g., O(2), ascorbic acid, and dopamine) were investigated. The occurrence of a redox reaction can be rationalized by comparing the redox potential of the α-syn-Cu(2+) complex to that of the specific cellular species. For example, ascorbic acid can directly reduce α-syn-Cu(2+) to α-syn-Cu(+), setting up a redox cycle in which O(2) is reduced to H(2)O(2) and cellular redox species is continuously exhausted. In addition, the H(2)O(2) generated was demonstrated to reduce viability of the neuroblastoma SY-HY5Y cells. Although our results ruled out the direct oxidation of dopamine by α-syn-Cu(2+), the H(2)O(2) generated in the presence of α-syn-Cu(2+) can oxidize dopamine. Our results suggest that oxidative stress is at least partially responsible for the loss of dopaminergic cells in PD brain and reveal the multifaceted role of the α-syn-Cu(2+) complex in oxidative stress associated with PD symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90032, USA.
authors.forename: Chengshan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Feimeng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D001205:Ascorbic Acid; D002470:Cell Survival; D003300:Copper; D004298:Dopamine; D006801:Humans; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism; D051844:alpha-Synuclein / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D051844:alpha-Synuclein; D003300:Copper; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide; D001205:Ascorbic Acid; D004298:Dopamine