Alpha-Synuclein Levels in Blood Plasma Decline with Healthy Aging

KOEHLER N; STRANSKY E; MEYER M; GAERTNER S; SHING M; SCHNAIDT M; CELEJ MS; JOVIN TM; LEYHE T; LASKE C; BATRA A; BUCHKREMER G; FALLGATTER A; WERNET D; RICHARTZ-SALZBURGER E

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2015

here is unequivocal evidence that alpha-synuclein plays a pivotal pathophysiological rolein neurodegenerative diseases, and in particular in synucleinopathies. These disorderspresent with a variable extent of cognitive impairment and alpha-synuclein is being exploredas a biomarker in CSF, blood serum and plasma. Considering key events of aging that includeproteostasis, alpha-synuclein may not only be useful as a marker for differential diagnosisbut also for aging per se. To explore this hypothesis, we developed a highly specificELISA to measure alpha-synuclein. In healthy males plasma alpha-synuclein levels correlatedstrongly with age, revealing much lower concentrations in older (avg. 58.1 years) comparedto younger (avg. 27.6 years) individuals. This difference between the age groups wasenhanced after acidification of the plasmas (p<0.0001), possibly reflecting a decrease ofalpha-synuclein-antibody complexes or chaperone