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05-19-2015, 02:27 PM | #1 | ||
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As far as I can tell most of the alpha synuclein in the body is in the red blood cells. Does anyone know if they can be seen with a microscope or do they require an electron scanning microscope?
More than 99% of the alpha-synuclein resides in the red blood cells (RBCs) with less than 1% of the total detected in the plasma, platelets and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. More than 99% of the alpha-synuclein in human blood is present in the peripheral blood cells, with the remainder in plasma. Red blood cells are the major source of alpha-synuclein in blood. - ResearchGate. Available from: http://www.researchgate.net/publicat...clein_in_blood [accessed May 19, 2015]. http://www.researchgate.net/publicat...clein_in_blood |
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05-19-2015, 06:00 PM | #2 | |||
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Grand Magnate
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Alpha-synuclein is a small protein (140 amino acid residues, about 14.5 kDa).
That means that it is too small to be seen directly by any current microscopy method. It is possible to visualise the regions within a cell in which it is found using a specific antibody which has been tagged with a reporter enzyme or fluorescent probe. However, this approach ("immunocytochemistry") just reports on regions (membrane-bound, in the nucleus, etc) rather than showing individual alpha-synuclein molecules.
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05-19-2015, 08:21 PM | #3 | ||
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05-19-2015, 10:15 PM | #4 | ||
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"Thanks for this!" says: | Betsy859 (05-20-2015) |
05-19-2015, 10:27 PM | #5 | ||
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05-19-2015, 10:44 PM | #6 | ||
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Yes, safety studies were fine, well tolerated, at least short term. They also had very good biomarker results. Prothena showed mean free serum A-Syn reductions up to 96%. Of course, what we don't know at this point, is if reduced free serum levels will actually slow or halt the neuro degenerative effects of misfolded, aggregated, a-Syn. We also don't know if there will be any negative impact from removing normal a-Syn from the body. Remember, this protein is needed for normal neuron functions and is involved as a presynaptic neural transmitter.
Last edited by Tupelo3; 05-20-2015 at 11:13 AM. |
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05-19-2015, 10:39 PM | #7 | |||
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Grand Magnate
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However, there are a couple of papers which may provide food for thought. One looked at red blood cells in mice which had had their alpha-synuclein gene removed ("knocked-out"). Their red blood cells were fine but they had lower levels of markers of oxidative stress than the red blood cells of mice in which the alpha-synuclein gene was present; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043722 . The other one showed that, in the MPTP mouse model of PD, the knock-out mice had higher levels of striatal dopamine compared to mice in which the alpha-synuclein gene was present; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15288507 .
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