Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative
synucleinopathy which leads to severe disability followed by death within 6-9 years of symptom onset. There is compelling evidence suggesting that biological trace metals like
iron and
copper play an important role in
synucleinopathies like
Parkinson's disease and removing excess brain
iron using
chelators could slow down the
disease progression. In human MSA, there is evidence of increased
iron in affected brain regions, but role of
iron and therapeutic efficacy of
iron-lowering drugs in pre-clinical models of MSA have not been studied. We studied age-related changes in
iron metabolism in different brain regions of the PLP-αsyn mice and tested whether
iron-lowering drugs could alleviate disease phenotype in aged PLP-αsyn mice.
Iron content,
iron-
ferritin association,
ferritin protein levels and
copper-
ceruloplasmin association were measured in prefrontal cortex, putamen, substantia nigra and cerebellum of 3, 8, and 20-month-old PLP-αsyn and age-matched non-transgenic mice. Moreover, 12-month-old PLP-αsyn mice were administered
deferiprone or
ceruloplasmin or vehicle for 2 months. At the end of treatment period, motor testing and stereological analyses were performed. We found
iron accumulation and perturbed
iron-
ferritin interaction in substantia nigra, putamen and cerebellum of aged PLP-αsyn mice. Furthermore, we found significant reduction in
ceruloplasmin-bound
copper in substantia nigra and cerebellum of the PLP-αsyn mice. Both
deferiprone and
ceruloplasmin prevented decline in motor performance in aged PLP-αsyn mice and were associated with higher neuronal survival and reduced density of α-
synuclein aggregates in substantia nigra. This is the first study to report brain
iron accumulation in a mouse model of MSA. Our results indicate that elevated
iron in MSA mice may result from
ceruloplasmin dysfunction and provide evidence that targeting
iron in MSA could be a viable therapeutic option.