TY  - JOUR
AU  - Cinar, Elif
AU  - Yalcin-Cakmakli, Gül
AU  - Akyel, Hilal
AU  - Ulusoy, Ayse
AU  - Tel, Banu Cahide
AU  - Elibol, Bülent
TI  - Autophagy activation ameliorates cognitive deficits and alpha-synuclein pathology in an adeno-associated viral vector mediated rat model of Lewy body disorders.
JO  - Pharmacology, biochemistry and behavior
VL  - 257
SN  - 0091-3057
CY  - Amsterdam [u.a.]
PB  - Elsevier Science
M1  - DZNE-2025-01121
SP  - 174096
PY  - 2025
AB  - Lewy body disorders (LBD), including Parkinson's disease (PD), Parkinson's disease with dementia (PDD), and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), are characterized by the aggregation of alpha-synuclein (a-syn). Despite shared pathological features, these disorders have distinct clinical characteristics, in terms of both motor and cognitive symptoms. We created a unique rat model of dual-site injection of adeno-associated viral vectors carrying human a-syn (AAV5-h-a-syn) simultaneously and bilaterally into the substantia nigra and dentate gyrus, to recapitulate both nigrostriatal and hippocampal-based a-syn pathology associated with PDD and DLB. Inspired by the distinct pathological features of the model, namely the CA2-dominated accumulation of phosphorylated a-syn, in the current study we aimed to evaluate comparatively the consequences of autophagic induction on a-syn pathology in these targeted areas. This was achieved by the chronic administration of rapamycin, for 8 weeks starting 10 weeks post-AAV injections. Behavioral assessments were conducted by evaluation of locomotor activity, anxiety-related behavior, object and spatial learning and memory. Histopathological examinations involved in-depth analysis of a-syn pathology, neuronal and synaptic integrity and autophagic markers. Results demonstrated that rapamycin significantly ameliorated cognitive deficits and reduced phosphorylated a-syn accumulation, significantly in CA2 throughout all its sublayers and partially in CA3 sublayers. Despite no alteration in NeuN and TH levels, synaptophysin expressions were decreased in both the hippocampus and striatum in a-syn overexpressing animals, which were partially restored by rapamycin treatment. Intriguingly, autophagic activation, as indicated by the increased expression of beclin-1, LC3-I/II, p62, and Atg proteins, was predominantly observed in the hippocampus but not in the striatum, suggesting region-specific differential response to autophagic induction in terms of a-syn pathology. This dual-site injection model provides a valuable tool for studying a-syn-related dementia and evaluating potential restorative therapies. Our findings underscore the importance of autophagy-targeting early interventions to alleviate cognitive deficits by reducing hippocampal a-syn burden in LBD.
KW  - Animals
KW  - alpha-Synuclein: metabolism
KW  - alpha-Synuclein: genetics
KW  - Autophagy: drug effects
KW  - Autophagy: physiology
KW  - Rats
KW  - Dependovirus: genetics
KW  - Lewy Body Disease: pathology
KW  - Lewy Body Disease: metabolism
KW  - Lewy Body Disease: psychology
KW  - Lewy Body Disease: therapy
KW  - Male
KW  - Disease Models, Animal
KW  - Genetic Vectors
KW  - Cognitive Dysfunction: therapy
KW  - Sirolimus: pharmacology
KW  - Humans
KW  - Rats, Sprague-Dawley
KW  - Alpha-synucleinopathies (Other)
KW  - CA2 (Other)
KW  - Dementia (Other)
KW  - Hippocampus (Other)
KW  - Parkinson's disease (Other)
KW  - Rapamycin (Other)
KW  - Stratum pyramidale (Other)
KW  - Synaptic integrity (Other)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:40939811
DO  - DOI:10.1016/j.pbb.2025.174096
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/281436
ER  -