Department of Physiology, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathogenesis and Prevention of Neurological Disorders and State Key Disciplines: Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China

Abstract 

Objective
Intracellular formation of Lewy body (LB) is one of the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease. The main component of LB is aggregated α-synuclein, present in the substantia nigra where iron accumulation also occurs. The present study was aimed to study the relationship between iron and α-synuclein aggregation.
Methods
SK-N-SH cells were treated with different concentrations of ferric iron for 24 h or 48 h. MTT assay was conducted to determine the cell viability. Thioflavine S staining was used to detect α-synuclein aggregation.
Results
With the increase of iron concentration, the cell viability decreased significantly. At the concentrations of 5 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L, iron induced a-synuclein aggregation more severely than at the concentration of 1 mmol/L. Besides, 48-h treatment-induced aggregation was more severe than that induced by 24-h treatment, at the corresponding iron concentrations.
Conclusion
Ferric iron can induce α-synuclein aggregation, which is toxic to the cells, in a dose- and time-dependent way.

Keywords

Parkinson’s disease; a-synuclein; ferric ammonium citrate

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