| BackgroundParkinson's disease(PD)is a common neurodegenerative disorder of the middle-aged and elderly with histopathological features of dopaminergic neuron degeneration and loss,gliosis and formation of the Lewy bodies(LB)in the midbrain region,and ?-synuclein,(alpha-synuclein,?-SYN)is the major component of Lewy bodies.Recent studies showed that in addition to the central nervous system,?-synuclein also expressed in the gastrointestinal(GI)nervous system,which could be a promising biomarker in the pre-clinical diagnosis of PD and other related diseases.Meanwhile researchers also found an obvious relationship between autograph-related protein LC3-II(the membrane-bound microtubule-associated membrane protein 1light chain 3)and the clearance mechanism of ?-synuclein inclusions,which may played an important role in the development of PD.However,potential clinical investigations involving the expression of ?-synuclein and LC3-II and their connection in GI have not been fully developed yet.Objective Our study aimed at probing the excessive accumulation of ?-synuclein and the abnormal expression of LC3-II in GI nervous tissue of PD patients.And the possible associations between these two pathological changes were discussed.Methods1.The GI tissue sample of sporadic PD patients were selected from 31 patients in the Fujian Medical University Union Hospital during March 2007 to March 2014.Other GI tissue sample for PD or PD plus syndrome-free 32 patients were collected as the control group in the same period,matching on the same sex,ages,disease,the position and time of pathological section.2.The immunohistochemical staining was employed for the detection of?-synuclein protein and LC3-II protein.3.Observed under the optical microscope,accessed and scored the positive cells ratio and their staining intensities respectively,less than 2 points were negative;3or more points were defined as positive.Calculating the total numbers of these two type,analysizing by chi-square test.For the positive samples,additional semi-quantitative analysis were used to evaluate the relevance of LC3-II.Results1.Compared with the control group,the presence of ?-synuclein overexpression were observed in the GI nevous tissue(P = 0.01).2.LC3-II expressed in the samples of both control and patient group with no statistical significance(P = 0.507).3.LC3-II expressed in the patients of higher level of ?-synuclein as well as in the control group.And no significant relationship was proved.Conclusions1.There existed aberrant expression of ?-synuclein in the GI tissues of PD patients.The gastrointestinal mucous biopsy could be regarded as an early-stage diagnostic strategy of PD by detecting the-?-synuclein inclusions.2.The expression of LC3-II protein in the GI nervous tissue is not specific among PD patients and the positive effect of higher LC3-II level can not be verified in the elimination of abnormal ?-synuclein formation in the GI system. |
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