Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41090770›Full record

ArticleCells2025

Spectral Profiling of Early αsyn Aggregation in HEK293 Cells Modified to Stably Express Human WT and A53T-αsyn.

Priyanka Swaminathan, Karsten Sættem Godø, Eline Bærøe Bjørn, Therése Klingstedt, Debdeep Chatterjee, Per Hammarström, Rajeevkumar Raveendran Nair, Mikael Lindgren

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cells, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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.

Priyanka SwaminathanDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Karsten Sættem GodøDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Eline Bærøe BjørnDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.
Therése KlingstedtDepartment of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.
Debdeep ChatterjeeDepartment of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0001-8153-8651
Per HammarströmDepartment of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0001-5827-3587
Rajeevkumar Raveendran NairKavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Olav Kyrres Gate 9, NO-7030 Trondheim, Norway.ORCID 0000-0001-9755-0874
Mikael LindgrenDepartment of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.ORCID 0000-0001-6649-7871

Funding

European Union Horizon 101004806Swedish Research Council 2021-00698Swedish Research Council 2023-03931The Research Council of Norway 329397The Swedish Brain Foundation FO2025-0102
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Alpha-synuclein (αsyn) misfolding and aggregation underlie several neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. Early oligomeric intermediates are particularly toxic yet remain challenging to detect and characterize within cellular systems. Here, we employed the luminescent conjugated oligothiophene h-FTAA to investigate early aggregation events of human wildtype (huWT) and A53T-mutated αsyn (huA53T) both in vitro and in HEK293 cells stably expressing native human-αsyn. Comparative fibrillation assays revealed that h-FTAA detected αsyn aggregation with higher sensitivity and earlier onset than Thioflavin T, with the A53T variant displaying accelerated fibrillation. HEK293 cells stably expressing huWT- or huA53T-αsyn were exposed to respective pre-formed fibrils (PFFs), assessed via immunocytochemistry, h-FTAA staining, spectral emission profiling, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). Notably, huA53T PFFs promoted earlier aggregation patterns and yielded narrower fluorescence lifetime distributions compared with huWT PFFs. Spectral imaging showed h-FTAA emission maxima (~550-580 nm) red-shifted and broadened in cells along with variable lifetimes (0.68-0.87 ns), indicating heterogeneous aggregate conformations influenced by cellular milieu. These findings demonstrate that h-FTAA is useful for distinguishing early αsyn conformers in living systems and, together with stable αsyn-expressing HEK293 cells, offers a platform for probing early αsyn morphotypes. Taken together, this opens for further discovery of biomarkers and drugs that can interfere with αsyn aggregation.

Indexed as

alpha-SynucleinProtein AggregatesProtein Aggregation, PathologicalHEK293 CellsHumansMutationalpha-SynucleinProtein AggregatesA53T mutationalpha-synucleinfibrillation kinetics assayfluorescence lifetime imagingHEK293 cellsh-FTAAParkinson’s diseasepre-formed fibrilsspectral imagingstable αsynThT

Identifiers

PMID41090770
PMCPMC12523747

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.