No abstract

Electrical stimulation initiates and accelerates facial nerve recovery in the rat model as it significantly reduces recovery time for the semi-eyeblink reflex, a marker of early recovery. It also hastens recovery of other functions.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder that results from the selective loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. Misfolding and aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein, oxidative damage, and proteasomal impairment are all hypotheses for the molecular cause of this selective neurotoxicity. Here, we describe a Saccharomyces cerevisiae model to evaluate the misfolding, aggregation, and toxicity-inducing ability of wild-type alpha-synuclein and three mutants (A30P, A53T, and A30P/A53T), and we compare regulation of these properties by dysfunctional proteasomes and by oxidative stress. We found prominent localization of wild-type and A53T alpha-synuclein near the plasma membrane, supporting known in vitro lipid-binding ability. In contrast, A30P was mostly cytoplasmic, whereas A30P/A53T displayed both types of fluorescence. Surprisingly, alpha-synuclein was not toxic to several yeast strains tested. When yeast mutants for the proteasomal barrel (doa3-1) were evaluated, delayed alpha-synuclein synthesis and membrane association were observed; yeast mutant for the proteasomal cap (sen3-1) exhibited increased accumulation and aggregation of alpha-synuclein. Both sen3-1and doa3-1 mutants exhibited synthetic lethality with alpha-synuclein. When yeasts were challenged with an oxidant (hydrogen peroxide), alpha-synuclein was extremely lethal to cells that lacked manganese superoxide dismutase Mn-SOD (sod2Delta) but not to cells that lacked copper, zinc superoxide dismutase Cu,Zn-SOD (sod1Delta). Despite the toxicity, sod2Delta cells never displayed intracellular aggregates of alpha-synuclein. We suggest that the toxic alpha-synuclein species in yeast are smaller than the visible aggregates, and toxicity might involve alpha-synuclein membrane association. Thus, yeasts have emerged effective organisms for characterizing factors and mechanisms that regulate alpha-synuclein toxicity.

Electrical stimulation may decrease cell death or promote sprouting to accelerate early recovery. Testosterone may affect the actual rate of axonal regeneration and produce acceleration in functional recovery. By targeting different stages of neural regeneration, the synergy of electrical stimulation and testosterone appears to have promise as a neurotherapeutic strategy for facial nerve injury.

Despite fission yeast's history of modeling salient cellular processes, it has not yet been used to model human neurodegeneration-linked protein misfolding. Because alpha-synuclein misfolding and aggregation are linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), here, we report a fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) model that evaluates alpha-synuclein misfolding, aggregation, and toxicity and compare these properties with those recently characterized in budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Wild-type alpha-synuclein and three mutants (A30P, A53T, and A30P/A53T) were expressed with thiamine-repressible promoters (using vectors of increasing promoter strength: pNMT81, pNMT41, and pNMT1) to test directly in living cells the nucleation polymerization hypothesis for alpha-synuclein misfolding and aggregation. In support of the hypothesis, wild-type and A53T alpha-synuclein formed prominent intracellular cytoplasmic inclusions within fission yeast cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, whereas A30P and A30P/A53T remained diffuse throughout the cytoplasm. A53T alpha-synuclein formed aggregates faster than wild-type alpha-synuclein and at a lower alpha-synuclein concentration. Unexpectedly, unlike in budding yeast, wild-type and A53T alpha-synuclein did not target to the plasma membrane in fission yeast, not even at low alpha-synuclein concentrations or as a precursor step to forming aggregates. Despite alpha-synuclein's extensive aggregation, it was surprisingly nontoxic to fission yeast. Future genetic dissection might yield molecular insight into this protection against toxicity. We speculate that alpha-synuclein toxicity might be linked to its membrane binding capacity. To conclude, S. pombe and S. cerevisiae model similar yet distinct aspects of alpha-synuclein biology, and both organisms shed insight into alpha-synuclein's role in PD pathogenesis.