Overexpression of alpha-synuclein following methamphetamine: is it good or bad?

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006 Aug:1074:191-7. doi: 10.1196/annals.1369.019.

Abstract

alpha-Synuclein is a presynaptic protein involved in various degenerative disorders now defined as synucleinopathies. These include neurological diseases that share a few pathological features consisting of aggregates of both normal and altered alpha-synuclein within specific neuronal populations and/or glial cells. The prototype of synucleinopathies is represented by Parkinson's disease (PD) in which alpha-synuclein is identified as a constant component of neuronal pale eosinophilic inclusions: "the Lewy Bodies." In the present article, we discuss the potential significance of amphetamine-induced overexpression of alpha-synuclein in light of clinical findings showing neurodegeneration following overexpression of alpha-synuclein and recent experimental studies that measured increased expression of alpha-synuclein following amphetamine derivatives.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Brain / drug effects*
  • Brain / pathology
  • Humans
  • Inclusion Bodies / drug effects
  • Inclusion Bodies / metabolism
  • Methamphetamine / therapeutic use*
  • Methamphetamine / toxicity*
  • Mice
  • Neurons / drug effects*
  • Neurons / pathology
  • Rats
  • alpha-Synuclein / metabolism*
  • alpha-Synuclein / physiology

Substances

  • alpha-Synuclein
  • Methamphetamine