Loss of the Synuclein Family Members Differentially Affects Baseline- and Apomorphine-Associated EEG Determinants in Single-, Double- and Triple-Knockout Mice

Abstract

Synucleins comprise a family of small proteins highly expressed in the nervous system of vertebrates and involved in various intraneuronal processes. The malfunction of alpha-synuclein is one of the key events in pathogenesis of Parkinson disease and certain other neurodegenerative diseases, and there is a growing body of evidence that malfunction of other two synucleins might be involved in pathological processes in the nervous system. The modulation of various presynaptic mechanisms of neurotransmission is an important function of synucleins, and therefore, it is feasible that their deficiency might affect global electrical activity detected of the brain. However, the effects of the loss of synucleins on the frequency spectra of electroencephalograms (EEGs) have not been systematically studied so far. In the current study, we assessed changes in such spectra in single-, double- and triple-knockout mice lacking alpha-, beta- and gamma-synucleins in all possible combinations. EEGs were recorded from the motor cortex, the putamen, the ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra of 78 3-month-old male mice from seven knockout groups maintained on the C57BL/6J genetic background, and 10 wild-type C57BL/6J mice for 30 min before and for 60 min after the systemic injection of a DA receptor agonist, apomorphine (APO). We found that almost any variant of synuclein deficiency causes multiple changes in both basal and APO-induced EEG oscillation profiles. Therefore, it is not the absence of any particular synuclein but rather a disbalance of synucleins that causes widespread changes in EEG spectral profiles.