Albert Torra, Thais Cuadros, Ariadna Laguna, Marta Martinez-Vicente, Jordi Romero-Giménez, Analía Bortolozzi, Marta Gonzalez-Sepulveda, Jordi Bové, Miquel Vila, Annabelle Parent, Ellen Gelpi, Iria Carballo-Carbajal, Beatriz Rodríguez-Galván, Takafumi Hasegawa, Andrea Ballabio, Nuria Peñuelas, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, European Commission, Parkinson's Disease Society (UK), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España), Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, Fundación 'la Caixa', Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (España), Fundación Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno, Generalitat de Catalunya, Carballo-Carbajal, I., Laguna, A., Romero-Gimenez, J., Cuadros, T., Bove, J., Martinez-Vicente, M., Parent, A., Gonzalez-Sepulveda, M., Penuelas, N., Torra, A., Rodriguez-Galvan, B., Ballabio, A., Hasegawa, T., Bortolozzi, A., Gelpi, E., Vila, M., Institut Català de la Salut, [Carballo-Carbajal I, Laguna A, Romero-Giménez J, Cuadros T, Bové J, Martinez-Vicente M, Parent A, Gonzalez-Sepulveda M, Peñuelas N, Torra A, Rodríguez-Galván B] Grup de recerca en Malalties Neurodegeneratives, Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca, Barcelona, Spain. [Vila M] Grup de recerca en Malalties Neurodegeneratives, Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca, Barcelona, Spain. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain., and Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus
In Parkinson’s disease (PD) there is a selective degeneration of neuromelanin-containing neurons, especially substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons. In humans, neuromelanin accumulates with age, the latter being the main risk factor for PD. The contribution of neuromelanin to PD pathogenesis remains unknown because, unlike humans, common laboratory animals lack neuromelanin. Synthesis of peripheral melanins is mediated by tyrosinase, an enzyme also present at low levels in the brain. Here we report that overexpression of human tyrosinase in rat substantia nigra results in age-dependent production of human-like neuromelanin within nigral dopaminergic neurons, up to levels reached in elderly humans. In these animals, intracellular neuromelanin accumulation above a specific threshold is associated to an age-dependent PD phenotype, including hypokinesia, Lewy body-like formation and nigrostriatal neurodegeneration. Enhancing lysosomal proteostasis reduces intracellular neuromelanin and prevents neurodegeneration in tyrosinase-overexpressing animals. Our results suggest that intracellular neuromelanin levels may set the threshold for the initiation of PD., This work was supported by funds from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria-Instituto de Salud Carlos III (FIS-ISCIII, Spain)-European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, E.U.) (PI13/01897, to M.V.), Parkinson’s U.K. (to M.V.), Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Spain) (SAF2016-77541-R and RTC-2014-2812-1, to M.V.), The Michael J. Fox Foundation (U.S.A) (ID15291, to M.V.), La Caixa Banking Foundation (Health Research Project HR17-00513, to M.V.) and CIBERNED (to M.V.). In addition, the Authors would like to acknowledge additional support from the Fundación Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno (Spain, to A.L.), Michael J. Fox Foundation (U.S.A.) (ID11580, to A.L.), MINECO (SAF2016-75797-R, to A.Bo.) and FIS-ISCIII-FEDER (PI15/01937 to J.B. and PI13/01390 to A.Bo.). A.L. was the recipient of a post-doctoral fellowship Beatriu de Pinós (2013 BP-DGR B 00043) from the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (AGAUR, Spain) with co-funding from the Marie Curie COFUND program (E.U.) and a postdoctoral contract SAF2015-73997-JIN from MINECO (Spain) with co-funding from FEDER (E.U.). N.P. is the recipient of a predoctoral fellowship FPI (BES-2017-080191) from MINECO (Spain). A.T. is the recipient of a pre-doctoral fellowship PFIS (FI14/00613) from the FIS-ISCIII (Spain).