Astrocyte inflammatory signaling mediates α-synuclein aggregation and dopaminergic neuronal loss following viral encephalitis.

ABSTRACT: Viral infection of the central nervous system (CNS) can cause lasting neurological decline in surviving patients and can present with symptoms resembling Parkinson's disease (PD). The mechanisms underlying postencephalitic parkinsonism remain unclear but are thought to involve increased innate inflammatory signaling in glial cells, resulting in persistent neuroinflammation. We therefore studied the role of glial cells in regulating neuropathology in postencephalitic parkinsonism by studying the involvement of astrocytes in loss of dopaminergic neurons and aggregation of α-synuclein protein following infection with western equine encephalitis virus (WEEV). Infections were conducted in both wildtype mice and in transgenic mice lacking NFκB inflammatory signaling in astrocytes. For 2 months f

SUBMITTER: Bantle CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9535678 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature