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Mutations, duplication and triplication of α-synuclein genes are linked to familial Parkinson's disease (PD), and aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) in Lewy bodies (LB) is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. The targeted overexpression of α-syn in the substantia nigra (SN) mediated by viral vectors may provide a better alternative to recapitulate the neurodegenerative features of PD. Therefore, we overexpressed human wild-type α-syn using rAAV2/1 vectors in the bilateral SN of mouse and examined the effects for up to 12 weeks. Delivery of rAAV-2/1-α-syn caused significant nigrostriatal degeneration including appearance of dystrophic striatal neurites, loss of nigral dopaminergic (DA) neurons and dissolving nigral neuron bodies in a time-dependent manner. In addition, the α-syn overexpressed mice also developed significant deficits in motor function at 12 weeks when the loss of DA neurons exceeded a threshold of 50%. To investigate the sensitivity to neurotoxins in mice overexpressing α-syn, we performed an MPTP treatment with the subacute regimen 8 weeks after rAAV injection. The impact of the combined genetic and environmental insults on DA neuronal loss, striatal dopamine depletion, dopamine turnover and motor dysfunction was markedly greater than that of either alone. Moreover, we observed increased phosphorylation (S129), accumulation and nuclear distribution of α-syn after the combined insults. In summary, these results reveal that the overexpressed α-syn induces progressive nigrostriatal degeneration and increases the susceptibility of DA neurons to MPTP. Therefore, the targeted overexpression of α-syn and the combination with environmental toxins may provide valuable models for understanding PD pathogenesis and developing related therapies.
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