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REVIEW article

Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders
Volume 16 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1411104
This article is part of the Research Topic Physiopathology of alpha-synuclein: a bench-to-bedside overview View all 3 articles

Emerging role of microglia in inter-cellular transmission of α-synuclein in Parkinson's disease

Provisionally accepted
Xiangbo Zhang Xiangbo Zhang Haiyang Yu Haiyang Yu Juan Feng Juan Feng *
  • Department of Neurology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide, significantly prejudicing the health and quality of life of elderly patients. The main pathological characteristics of PD are the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) as well as abnormal aggregation of α-synuclein (α-syn) monomers and oligomers, which results in formation of Lewy bodies (LBs). Intercellular transmission of α-syn is crucial for PD progression. Microglia play diverse roles in physiological and pathological conditions, exhibiting neuroprotective or neurotoxic effects; moreover, they may directly facilitate α-syn propagation. Various forms of extracellular αsyn can be taken up by microglia through multiple mechanisms, degraded or processed into more pathogenic forms, and eventually released into extracellular fluid or adjacent cells. This review discusses current literature regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying the uptake, degradation, and release of α-syn by microglia.

    Keywords: Parkinson's disease, Microglia, alpha-Synuclein, neurodegeneration, propagation

    Received: 02 Apr 2024; Accepted: 23 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Yu and Feng. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Juan Feng, Department of Neurology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.