Quantitative super-resolution imaging of pathological aggregates reveals distinct toxicity profiles in different synucleinopathies.
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Protein aggregation is a hallmark of major neurodegenerative disorders. Increasing data suggest that smaller aggregates cause higher toxic response than filamentous aggregates (fibrils). However, the size of small aggregates has challenged their detection within biologically relevant environments. Here, we report approaches to quantitatively super-resolve aggregates in live cells and ex vivo brain tissues. We show that Amytracker 630 (AT630), a commercial aggregate-activated fluorophore, has outstanding photophysical properties that enable super-resolution imaging of α-synuclein, tau, and amyloid-β aggregates, achieving ∼4 nm precision. Applying AT630 to AppNL-G-F mouse brain tissues or aggregates extracted from a Parkinson's disease donor, we demonstrate excellent agreement with antibodies specific for amyloid-β or α-synuclein, respectively, confirming the specificity of AT630. Subsequently, we use AT630 to reveal a linear relationship between α-synuclein aggregate size and cellular toxicity and discovered that aggregates smaller than 450 ± 60 nm (aggregate450nm) readily penetrated the plasma membrane. We determine aggregate450nm concentrations in six Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies donor samples and show that aggregates in different synucleinopathies demonstrate distinct potency in toxicity. We further show that cell-penetrating aggregates are surrounded by proteasomes, which assemble into foci to gradually process aggregates. Our results suggest that the plasma membrane effectively filters out fibrils but is vulnerable to penetration by aggregates of 450 ± 60 nm. Together, our findings present an exciting strategy to determine specificity of aggregate toxicity within heterogeneous samples. Our approach to quantitatively measure these toxic aggregates in biological environments opens possibilities to molecular examinations of disease mechanisms under physiological conditions.
Date Issued
2022-10-11
Date Acceptance
2022-08-31
Citation
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA, 2022, 119 (41), pp.1-12
ISSN
0027-8424
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Start Page
1
End Page
12
Journal / Book Title
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of USA
Volume
119
Issue
41
Copyright Statement
© 2022 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY).
License URL
Sponsor
Wellcome Trust
UK Dementia Research Institute
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36206368
Grant Number
101585/Z/13/Z
UKDRI-5009
Subjects
neurodegeneration
proteasome
protein aggregation
super-solution imaging
α-synuclein
Amyloid beta-Peptides
Animals
Lewy Bodies
Mice
Parkinson Disease
Protein Aggregates
Synucleinopathies
alpha-Synuclein
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2022-10-07