Seed amplification of MSA alpha-synuclein aggregates preserves the biological and structural properties of brain-derived aggregates

Parkinson's disease (PD), Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA), are characterized by the misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (αSyn). Compelling evidence showed that αSyn aggregates exist as distinct conformational strains in different synucleinopathies. Recently, we reported that the αSyn Seed Amplification Assay (αSyn-SAA) can amplify and distinguish αSyn strains from PD and MSA. In this study, we investigate whether MSA-seeded, SAA-amplified αSyn fibrils retain the biological and structural properties of the αSyn seeds present in MSA brains. We study the biological activities of both brain-derived and SAA-amplified αSyn aggregates using an αSyn "biosensor" cell model and a synucleinopathy transmission mouse model. Our in vitro and in vivo findings reveal that the SAA-amplified αSyn fibrils preserve the biological properties of the brain-derived MSA strain. Detailed analyses of the in vivo studies demonstrate that both brain-derived and SAA-generated αSyn aggregates induce a similar disease, with comparable incubation periods, neuropathological damages and clinical manifestations. High-resolution cryo-EM analysis of SAA-amplified αSyn fibrils demonstrates that their conformation at the protofilament level closely resembles one of the αSyn filaments previously identified in MSA patient brains. Our findings suggest that SAA can amplify disease-specific misfolded αSyn conformation while preserving its main biological properties.