Mitochondrial transfer of α-synuclein mediates carbon disulfide-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and neurotoxicity.

Exposure to carbon disulfide (CS ₂ ) is a recognized risk factor in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, yet the underlying mechanisms of deleterious effects on mitochondrial integrity have remained elusive. Here, through establishing CS ₂ exposure models in rat and SH-SY5Y cells, we demonstrated that highly expressed α-synuclein (α-Syn) is transferred to mitochondria via membrane proteins such as Tom20 and leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and mitochondrial oxidative stress, which ultimately causes neuronal injury. We first found significant mitochondrial damage and oxidative stress in CS ₂ -exposed rat midbrain and SH-SY5Y cells and showed that mitochondrial oxidative stress was the main factor of mitochondrial damage by Mitoquinone intervention. Further experiments revealed that CS ₂ exposure led to the accumulation of α-Syn in mitochondria and that α-Syn co-immunoprecipitated with mitochondrial membrane proteins. Finally, the use of an α-Syn inhibitor (ELN484228) and small interfering RNA (siRNA) effectively mitigated the accumulation of α-Syn in neurons, as well as the inhibition of mitochondrial membrane potential, caused by CS ₂ exposure. In conclusion, our study identifies the translocation of α-Syn to mitochondria and the impairment of mitochondrial function, which has important implications for the broader understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases associated with environmental toxins.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Fuyong Song reports financial support was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Fuyong Song reports a relationship with National Natural Science Foundation of China that includes: funding grants. NO has patent pending to NO. NO If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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