Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40912593›Full record

ArticleBrain, behavior, and immunity2025

Human microglia reduce alpha-synuclein aggregation and are neuroprotective in adult mouse brain.

Katrina Albert, Sanni Peltonen, Anni Vanne, Sara Kälvälä, Valtteri Syvänen, Jari Koistinaho, Kelvin C Luk, Šárka Lehtonen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain, behavior, and immunity, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Katrina AlbertA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: katrina.raty@uef.fi.
Sanni PeltonenA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Anni VanneA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Sara KälväläA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Valtteri SyvänenA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Jari KoistinahoHelsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki 00014 Helsinki, Finland; Drug Research Program, Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, University of Helsinki 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Kelvin C LukCenter for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4238, USA.
Šárka LehtonenA.I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, 70211 Kuopio, Finland. Electronic address: sarka.lehtonen@uef.fi.

Funding

Propagation of Lewy pathology in Parkinsons diseaseR01NS088322 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI LUK, KELVIN C · 2015 to 2025
$4.0M
NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS088322
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microglia, brain-resident immune cells, are involved in pathophysiology of several neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease. Given significant species-specific differences in microglia gene expression, particularly in disease-risk genes, as well as the highly reactive nature of these cells, studying human microglia in a whole brain environment is essential. Here, we established a humanized mouse model by transplanting human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells into the striatum of immunodeficient adult mice and injected human alpha-synuclein preformed fibrils to model Parkinson's disease pathology. Transplanted human cells engraft, mature into microglia and maintain their phenotype for at least three months post-transplantation. These human microglia interact with alpha-synuclein, significantly limiting its propagation from the striatum to the substantia nigra and further reducing local small aggregates; they also mildly protect tyrosine hydroxylase neurons there. Transcriptomic profiling reveals 56 differentially expressed genes in human microglia in response to alpha-synuclein preformed fibrils, while host mouse cells show 202 gene expression changes, including an upregulation of gene Hcrt (fold change = 7.77, p = 0.0015). Immunohistochemistry analysis further confirms the preservation of hypocretin-positive neurons in the hypothalamus of the transplanted mice (p = 0.0079). The findings highlight the neuroprotective role of human microglia and establish a more disease-relevant in vivo model for investigating alpha-synuclein aggregation and therapeutic interventions in Parkinson's disease.

Indexed as

alpha-SynucleinBrainMicrogliaAnimalsCorpus StriatumDisease Models, AnimalHumansInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsMaleMiceNeuronsNeuroprotectionParkinson DiseaseSubstantia Nigraalpha-SynucleinAlpha-synucleinHypocretinMicrogliaParkinson’s diseasePreformed fibrilsRNAseqXenotransplant

Identifiers

PMID40912593
PMCPMC13319106

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.