Lipids droplets as an early marker of alpha-synuclein-induced neurodegeneration

ALZA, N.P.; SCODELARO BILBAO, P.G.; CONDE, M.; SALVADOR, G.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión Conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias; 2017

Pathological accumulation of α-synuclein (α-syn), a cytosolic protein highly expressed in the central nervous system, is a hallmark of Parkinson?s disease. α-syn has the ability to bind lipids, although its involvement in lipid metabolism remains unknown. In previous work, we reported that the overexpression of A53T α-syn in dopaminergic neurons increased the cellular content of neutral lipids and fatty acids (SAIB 2014-2015). The aim of the present study was to characterize the role of α-syn in neuronal lipid metabolism. For this purpose, we worked with a human neuroblastoma cell line, IMR-32, that stably express the wild type form of α-syn (WT α-syn). We observed an increase in triacylglycerides (TAG) and cholesterol content in WT α-syn neurons when compared with control cells (pcDNA3) (**p