Utilizing Correlated Light and Electron Microscopy to Examine Alpha-Synuclein Pathology in a Mouse Model of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder for which there are currently no treatments to slow, halt, or reverse the disease process. The disease is defined by the accumulation of the protein alpha-synuclein into aggregates known as Lewy inclusions, but how these aggregates initiate and propagate to various locations throughout the brain is unknown To develop targeted disease modifying therapies, it is important to understand how aggregated forms of alpha-synuclein are transported throughout the nervous system to rationally intervene to stop and/or reverse the process. The goal of this study was to use correlated light and electron microscopy (CLEM) imaging approaches to determine both the structure and location of alpha-synuclein pathology in a mouse model of PD