Blood Plasma of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease Increases Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation and Neurotoxicity

Figure 2

Effects of NS and PD plasma on viability of neurons treated with extracellular α-syn. (a) Primary neurons were cultured for 14 d in complete medium with or without 30% NS or PD plasma and 5 µM α-syn. The control group was treated with bovine plasma. Viability of all groups was reduced in the presence of extracellular α-syn and was lower in neurons treated with PD as compared with NS plasma (; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). , versus control group; versus NS group. (b) Time-dependent decrease in viability of neurons treated with 30% PD plasma and 5 µM α-syn (/group; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). , versus day 0 group. (c) Decrease in viability with increasing PD plasma concentration following treatment with 5 µM α-syn (/group; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). versus control group. (d) Decrease in viability with increasing α-syn concentration following treatment with 30% PD plasma (/group; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). , versus day 0 group. The light gray bar in Figures 2(b), 2(c), and 2(d) refers to the average cell viability of control group in which the neurons are cultured in DMEM medium. ((e), (f)) Flow cytometry analysis of apoptotic neurons cultured with 5 µM α-syn and treated with NS or PD plasma. Rate of apoptosis was higher in neurons treated with PD as compared with NS plasma (/group; one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc test). , versus control group; versus NS group.

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