机构：[a]Department of Neurobiology Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases (Capital Medical University), Ministry of Education, Xuanwu Hospital of China Capital Medical University, 100053 Beijing, China神经变性病教育部重点实验室首都医科大学宣武医院[b]Department of Human Anatomy, Sapienza University, Rome 00161, Italy
Alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn), a synaptic protein richly expressed in the central nervous system, has been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple system atrophy, and dementia with Lewy bodies, which are collectively known as synucleinopathies. By contrast to the clear evidence for the involvement of alpha-syn in synucleinopathies, its physiological functions remain elusive, which becomes an impediment for revelation of its pathological mechanism. Since alpha-syn is richly expressed in presynaptic terminals and associated with synaptic vesicles, a large number of studies have been focused on revealing the potential functions of this protein in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity. In this review article, we summarized recent advances for the role of alpha-syn in synaptic vesicle recycling, neurotransmitter synthesis and release, and synaptic plasticity. We discussed the possible relevance between the loss of normal alpha-syn functions in disease conditions and the onset of some neurodegenerative diseases. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
基金：
National High Technology Research and Development Program (‘‘863’’Program) of China (2006AA02A408),
the National Basic Research Program (‘‘973’’ Program) of China (2011CB504101), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30270482, 30271437, 30430280, and 81071014).
第一作者机构：[a]Department of Neurobiology Key Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases (Capital Medical University), Ministry of Education, Xuanwu Hospital of China Capital Medical University, 100053 Beijing, China
通讯作者：
通讯机构：[*]Department of Neurobiology, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Xuanwu Hospital of China Capital Medical University, 45# Changchun Street, Beijing 100053, China
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714)：
Furong Cheng,Giorgio Vivacqua,Shun Yu.The role of alpha-synuclein in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity[J].JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL NEUROANATOMY.2011,42(4):242-248.doi:10.1016/j.jchemneu.2010.12.001.
APA：
Furong Cheng,Giorgio Vivacqua&Shun Yu.(2011).The role of alpha-synuclein in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity.JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL NEUROANATOMY,42,(4)
MLA：
Furong Cheng,et al."The role of alpha-synuclein in neurotransmission and synaptic plasticity".JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL NEUROANATOMY 42..4(2011):242-248
