Summary Mitochondria have long been implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Mutations in the mitochondrial kinase PINK1 that reduce kinase activity are associated with mitochondrial defects and result in an autosomal recessive form of early onset PD. Therapeutic approaches for enhancing the activity of PINK1 have not been considered since no allosteric regulatory sites for PINK1 are known. Here we show that an alternative strategy, a neo-substrate approach involving the ATP analog kinetin triphosphate (KTP), can be used to increase the activity of both PD related mutant PINK1G309D and PINK1wt. Moreover, we show that application of the KTP precursor kinetin to cells results in biologically significant increases in PINK1 activity, manifest as higher levels of Parkin recruitment to depolarized mitochondria, reduced mitochondrial motility in axons, and lower levels of apoptosis. Discovery of neo-substrates for kinases could provide a heretofore-unappreciated modality for regulating kinase activity.

Parkinson's disease is caused primarily by degeneration of brain dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and the consequent deficit of dopamine in the striatum. Dopamine replacement therapy with the dopamine precursor L-dopa is the mainstay of current treatment. After several years, however, the patients develop L-dopa-induced dyskinesia, or abnormal involuntary movements, thought to be due to excessive signaling via dopamine receptors. G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) control desensitization of dopamine receptors. We found that dyskinesia is attenuated by lentivirus-mediated overexpression of GRK6 in the striatum in rodent and primate models of Parkinson's disease. Conversely, reduction of GRK6 concentration by microRNA delivered with lentiviral vector exacerbated dyskinesia in parkinsonian rats. GRK6 suppressed dyskinesia in monkeys without compromising the anti-parkinsonian effects of L-dopa and even prolonged the antiparkinsonian effect of a lower dose of L-dopa. Our finding that increased availability of GRK6 ameliorates dyskinesia and increases duration of the antiparkinsonian action of L-dopa suggests a promising approach for controlling both dyskinesia and motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease. † To whom correspondence should be addressed. Eugenia.Gurevich@vanderbilt.edu (E.V.G.); Erwan.bezard@u-bordeaux2.fr (E.B.). * These authors contributed equally to this work.Author contributions: E. Bezard and E.V.G. designed and organized the experiments; E.V.G., V.V.G., M.R.A., Y.T.C., and S.K. designed, cloned, and produced viral vectors and viruses; E.V.G., M.R.A., Y.T.C., E. Bychkov, S.K., A.B., and G.P. performed rat behavioral, neurochemical, and histological experiments; E. Bezard, A.B., G.P., Q.L., B.H.B., B.B., I.A., S.D., and E.D. performed monkey behavioral, neurochemical, and histological experiments; E. Bezard and E.V.G. analyzed the data; E. Bezard, V.V.G., and E.V.G. wrote the paper. Competing interests:The authors have declared no competing interests. SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/2/28/28ra28/DC1 Materials and Methods Fig. S1. The GFP-tagged GRK6 is functional and has the subcellular localization of the endogenous GRK6. Fig. S2. Antibodies to GRK6 selectively recognize GRK6A or GRK6B splicing variants. Fig. S3. The lentivirus carrying two chained miRNAs targets both GRK6A and GRK6B splice variants. Fig. S4. Infection of the rat striatum with the miRNA lentivirus induces the GRK6 knockdown. References NIH Public Access

Disruptions in mitochondrial dynamics may contribute to the selective degeneration of dopamine (DA) neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, little is known about the normal functions of mitochondrial dynamics in these neurons, especially in axons where degeneration begins, and this makes it difficult to understand the disease process. To study one aspect of mitochondrial dynamicsmitochondrial fission-in mouse DA neurons, we deleted the central fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1). Drp1 loss rapidly eliminates the DA terminals in the caudate-putamen and causes cell bodies in the midbrain to degenerate and lose ␣-synuclein. Without Drp1, mitochondrial mass dramatically decreases, especially in axons, where the mitochondrial movement becomes uncoordinated. However, in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a subset of midbrain DA neurons characterized by small hyperpolarization-activated cation currents (I h ) is spared, despite near complete loss of their axonal mitochondria. Drp1 is thus critical for targeting mitochondria to the nerve terminal, and a disruption in mitochondrial fission can contribute to the preferential death of nigrostriatal DA neurons.

l-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), a detrimental consequence of dopamine replacement therapy for Parkinson's disease, is associated with an alteration in dopamine D1 receptor (D1R) and glutamate receptor interactions. We hypothesized that the synaptic scaffolding protein PSD-95 plays a pivotal role in this process, as it interacts with D1R, regulates its trafficking and function, and is overexpressed in LID. Here, we demonstrate in rat and macaque models that disrupting the interaction between D1R and PSD-95 in the striatum reduces LID development and severity. Single quantum dot imaging revealed that this benefit was achieved primarily by destabilizing D1R localization, via increased lateral diffusion followed by increased internalization and diminished surface expression. These findings indicate that altering D1R trafficking via synapse-associated scaffolding proteins may be useful in the treatment of dyskinesia in Parkinson's patients. IntroductionIn the striatum, dopamine (DA) terminals from the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) converge with glutamatergic signals from the cortex on dendritic spines of striatal medium spiny projecting GABAergic neurons (1, 2). The degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway in Parkinson's disease (PD) induces complex modifications in both DA and glutamate signaling, leading to significant morphological and functional modifications in the striatal neuronal circuitry (3-5). Chronic DA replacement therapy with l-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (l-DOPA) superimposes upon these DA depletion-induced changes, resulting in debilitating motor complications known as l-DOPAinduced dyskinesia (LID) (6-8). At the molecular level, the subcellular organization of and functional interactions between glutamate and DA receptors within the striatum are crucial both in the pathogenesis of PD (9) and in the development of LID (10, 11). LID has indeed been associated with plastic changes in postsynaptic neuronal targets in the striatum, including elevated extracellular levels of glutamate (12) and DA (13) and abnormal trafficking of DA D1 receptor (D1R) (14, 15) and of NMDA and AMPA glutamate receptor subunits (5,10,16,17). Such exaggerated DA and glutamate receptor expression at the plasma membrane results in abnormal activation of key signaling kinases (18)(19)(20)(21)(22). All these changes point to dysfunctional interactions between DA and glutamate neurotransmission in LID (5,23,24), although the molecular mechanisms remain elusive, despite recent progress (14, 25).The membrane-associated guanylate kinase (MAGUK) proteins, such as postsynaptic density 95 (PSD-95), organize ionotropic glutamate receptors and their associated signaling proteins, regulating the strength of synaptic activity. Interestingly, PSD-95 might also interact with DA D1R (26), thereby potentially regulating DA

Disrupting particular mitochondrial fission and fusion proteins leads to the death of specific neuronal populations; however, the normal functions of mitochondrial fission in neurons are poorly understood, especially in vivo, which limits the understanding of mitochondrial changes in disease. Altered activity of the central mitochondrial fission protein dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1) may contribute to the pathophysiology of several neurologic diseases. To study Drp1 in a neuronal population affected by Alzheimer's disease (AD), stroke, and seizure disorders, we postnatally deleted Drp1 from CA1 and other forebrain neurons in mice (CamKII-Cre, Drp1lox/lox (Drp1cKO)). Although most CA1 neurons survived for more than 1 year, their synaptic transmission was impaired, and Drp1cKO mice had impaired memory. In Drp1cKO cell bodies, we observed marked mitochondrial swelling but no change in the number of mitochondria in individual synaptic terminals. Using ATP FRET sensors, we found that cultured neurons lacking Drp1 (Drp1KO) could not maintain normal levels of mitochondrial-derived ATP when energy consumption was increased by neural activity. These deficits occurred specifically at the nerve terminal, but not the cell body, and were sufficient to impair synaptic vesicle cycling. Although Drp1KO increased the distance between axonal mitochondria, mitochondrial-derived ATP still decreased similarly in Drp1KO boutons with and without mitochondria. This indicates that mitochondrial-derived ATP is rapidly dispersed in Drp1KO axons, and that the deficits in axonal bioenergetics and function are not caused by regional energy gradients. Instead, loss of Drp1 compromises the intrinsic bioenergetic function of axonal mitochondria, thus revealing a mechanism by which disrupting mitochondrial dynamics can cause dysfunction of axons.

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Energy failure from mitochondrial dysfunction is proposed to be a central mechanism leading to neuronal death in a range of neurodegenerative diseases. However, energy failure has never been directly demonstrated in affected neurons in these diseases, nor has it been proved to produce degeneration in disease models. Therefore, despite considerable indirect evidence, it is not known whether energy failure truly occurs in susceptible neurons, and whether this failure is responsible for their death. This limited understanding results primarily from a lack of sensitivity and resolution of available tools and assays and the inherent limitations of in vitro model systems. Major advances in these methodologies and approaches should greatly enhance our understanding of the relationship between energy failure, neuronal dysfunction, and death, and help us to determine whether boosting bioenergetic function would be an effective therapeutic approach. Here we review the current evidence that energy failure occurs in and contributes to neurodegenerative disease, and consider new approaches that may allow us to better address this central issue.