Deposits of disease-associated alpha-synuclein may be present in the dura mater in Lewy body disorders: implications for potential inadvertent transmission by surgery

Authors

  • Ellen Gelpi Division of Neuropathology and Neurochemistry, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Neurological Tissue Bank of the Biobanc-Hospital Clinic-IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain
  • Naomi P. Visanji Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Selma Hönigschnabl Institute of Pathology, Danube Hospital of Vienna, Austria
  • Angelika Reiner Institute of Pathology, Danube Hospital of Vienna, Austria
  • Peter Fischer Department of Psychiatry, Medical Research Society Vienna D.C., Danube Hospital, Vienna, Austria
  • Anthony Lang Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Herbert Budka Division of Neuropathology and Neurochemistry, Department of Neurology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
  • Gabor G. Kovacs Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease and the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Laboratory Medicine Program & Krembil Brain Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology and Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Disease, University of Toronto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17879/freeneuropathology-2020-2616

Keywords:

Alpha-synuclein, Dura mater, Lymphatic drainage, Prion, Propagation, Transmission

Abstract

Deposition of alpha-synuclein in the brain is a hallmark of Lewy body disorders. Alpha-synuclein has been considered to show prion-like properties. Prion diseases can be transmitted by the transplantation of cadaveric dura mater causing iatrogenic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Recent observations of amyloid-β deposition in dural grafts support the seeding properties of amyloid-β. Here we assessed the presence of alpha-synuclein in dura mater samples as a potential transmissible seed source. We immunostained 32 postmortem dura mater samples; 16 cases with Lewy-body disorder (LBD) showing different pathology stages and 16 non-LBD cases for phosphorylated (Ser129) and disease-associated (5G4) alpha-synuclein. Disease-associated alpha-synuclein aggregates were identified in intradural nerve fibres and associated with a vessel in a single LBD-Braak stage 4 case. We conclude that alpha-synuclein is detectable, although rarely, in dura mater samples in patients with LBD. The risk of potential transmissibility of dural alpha-synuclein deserves assessment by complementary experimental studies.

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Published

2020-02-12

How to Cite

Gelpi, E., Visanji, N. P., Hönigschnabl, S., Reiner, A., Fischer, P., Lang, A., Budka, H., & Kovacs, G. G. (2020). Deposits of disease-associated alpha-synuclein may be present in the dura mater in Lewy body disorders: implications for potential inadvertent transmission by surgery. Free Neuropathology, 1, 6. https://doi.org/10.17879/freeneuropathology-2020-2616

Issue

Vol. 1 (2020)

Section

Original Papers

License

Papers are published open access under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license. This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. Data included in the article are made available under the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication waiver, unless otherwise stated, meaning that all copyrights are waived.