Neuronal Protein Alteration in Enteric Dysmotility Syndrome

Little is known about the enteric ganglionic system in subjects with gastrointestinal dysmotility syndrome (GIDS). Furthermore, dysfunction of gastrointestinal motility is an early complaint of subjects with Parkinson’s disease. Here, we assessed p62/sequestosome-1(p62) and α-synuclein (αS) immunoreactivity (IR) in full-thickness bowel specimens of the gut obtained from six subjects with GIDS and from 17 controls. In the myenteric neurons, fine punctuate p62-IR were seen in all of the controls, whereas diffuse cytoplasmic and nuclear p62-IR were seen in the GIDS cases. Physiological αS-IR (clone 42/αS) was seen in all of the controls and the GIDS cases in the lamina propria, the submucosal and in the myenteric plexuses. The disease associated αS (clone 5G4) labeled the cytoplasm of the ganglion cells only in the myenteric plexus in three out of the four subjects with the GIDS/inflammatory neuropathy. In summary, ganglion cells were readily visualized in all of the layers of the bowel with clone 42/αS, and p62 displayed altered patterns of labeling in subjects with the GIDS. Labeling seen with the disease associated clone 5G4/αS in the GIDS/inflammatory neuropathy is intriguing and might indicate that the alteration of αS is triggered by a chronic inflammation.