Elsevier

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 239, Issue 1, 12 December 1997, Pages 45-48
Neuroscience Letters

NACP, a presynaptic protein, immunoreactivity in Lewy bodies in Parkinson's disease

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3940(97)00891-4Get rights and content

Abstract

NACP, originally identified as a precursor of the non-Aβ component of Alzheimer's disease amyloid (NAC), is now known to be identical to α-synuclein, a presynaptic protein in the human brain. Recently, a mutation in the α-synuclein gene in families with autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease (PD) was identified. We carried out immunohistochemical examinations of the brains of sporadic PD patients using anti-NACP and anti-ubiquitin antibodies. Consistent with previous studies, the anti-NACP antibody immunostained the neuropil in a punctate pattern throughout the brain. Moreover, much stronger NACP immunoreactivity was found in Lewy bodies and degenerating neurites in the brainstem. Serial sections immunolabeled with anti-ubiquitin or anti-NACP showed that all ubiquitin-immunoreactive LBs were also NACP-immunoreactive. These findings suggest that alteration of NACP metabolism is involved in the pathogenesis of PD, particularly in Lewy body formation, leading to neurodegeneration.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the late Professor Tsunao Saitoh of the University of California, San Diego, for the recombinant DNA used to produce NACP. We express our appreciation to Mr. T. Hasegawa, Mr. S. Egawa, Ms. C. Tanda, Ms. Y. Ohta, Ms. J. Takasaki, Ms. K. Machida and Ms. K. Abe. This work was supported, in part, by a research grant from the Research Committee, for CNS Degenerative Diseases, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan.

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