Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease

Abstract Alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), a key component of Lewy body pathology, is a classical hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. In previous studies, our group has examined dopaminergic neuron-specific Atg7 autophagy-deficient mice, observing α-synuclein aggregation in vivo. This pathological process...

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Main Authors: Sachiko Noda, Nobutaka Hattori
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-07-01
Series:Molecular Brain
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s13041-025-01235-5
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author Sachiko Noda
Nobutaka Hattori
author_facet Sachiko Noda
Nobutaka Hattori
author_sort Sachiko Noda
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), a key component of Lewy body pathology, is a classical hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. In previous studies, our group has examined dopaminergic neuron-specific Atg7 autophagy-deficient mice, observing α-synuclein aggregation in vivo. This pathological process led to dopamine neuron loss and age-related motor impairments. Further, in a recent study, we developed a new mouse model by crossing human α-synuclein bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic mice with dopaminergic neuron-specific Atg7 conditional knockout mice to further investigate these mechanisms. These model mice exhibited accelerated Lewy body-like pathology and motor dysfunction, providing additional evidence that autophagy deficiency exacerbates synuclein toxicity in vivo. This nano-review provides essential clues that autophagy deficiency in dopamine neurons may contribute to the onset of human synuclein diseases.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1756-6606
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher BMC
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series Molecular Brain
spelling doaj-art-12adbe5d04da443e9109993a96e10b7c2025-08-20T03:46:28ZengBMCMolecular Brain1756-66062025-07-011811310.1186/s13041-025-01235-5Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s diseaseSachiko Noda0Nobutaka Hattori1Department of Neurology, Juntendo University Graduate School of MedicineDepartment of Neurology, Juntendo University Graduate School of MedicineAbstract Alpha-synuclein (α-synuclein), a key component of Lewy body pathology, is a classical hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. In previous studies, our group has examined dopaminergic neuron-specific Atg7 autophagy-deficient mice, observing α-synuclein aggregation in vivo. This pathological process led to dopamine neuron loss and age-related motor impairments. Further, in a recent study, we developed a new mouse model by crossing human α-synuclein bacterial artificial chromosome transgenic mice with dopaminergic neuron-specific Atg7 conditional knockout mice to further investigate these mechanisms. These model mice exhibited accelerated Lewy body-like pathology and motor dysfunction, providing additional evidence that autophagy deficiency exacerbates synuclein toxicity in vivo. This nano-review provides essential clues that autophagy deficiency in dopamine neurons may contribute to the onset of human synuclein diseases.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13041-025-01235-5Parkinson’s diseaseΑ-synucleinAutophagyDopaminergic neurons
spellingShingle Sachiko Noda
Nobutaka Hattori
Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
Molecular Brain
Parkinson’s disease
Α-synuclein
Autophagy
Dopaminergic neurons
title Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
title_full Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
title_fullStr Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
title_full_unstemmed Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
title_short Unraveling the mystery: How autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human Parkinson’s disease
title_sort unraveling the mystery how autophagy deficiency in dopaminergic neurons drives human parkinson s disease
topic Parkinson’s disease
Α-synuclein
Autophagy
Dopaminergic neurons
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s13041-025-01235-5
work_keys_str_mv AT sachikonoda unravelingthemysteryhowautophagydeficiencyindopaminergicneuronsdriveshumanparkinsonsdisease
AT nobutakahattori unravelingthemysteryhowautophagydeficiencyindopaminergicneuronsdriveshumanparkinsonsdisease