NF-κB/c-Rel deficiency causes Parkinson’s disease-like prodromal symptoms and progressive pathology in mice

BACKGROUND: Parkinson’s disease (PD), the most common neurodegenerative movement disorder, is characterized by dopaminergic nigrostriatal neuron loss and brain accumulation of Lewy bodies, protein aggregates mainly composed of α-synuclein. We reported that mice deficient for NF-κB/c-Rel (c-rel(-/-)) develop a late-onset parkinsonism. At 18 months of age, c-rel(-/-) mice showed nigrostriatal degeneration and accumulation of α-synuclein aggregates associated with a motor impairment responsive to L-DOPA administration. Being c-Rel protein a transcriptional regulator for mitochondrial anti-oxidant and antiapoptotic factors, it has been inferred that its deficiency may affect the resilience of “energy demanding” nigral dopaminergic neurons to the aging process. PD patients manifest a prodromal syndrome that includes olfactory and gastrointestinal dysfunctions years before the frank degeneration of nigrostriatal neurons and appearance of motor symptoms. According to the Braak staging, the onset of non-motor and motor symptoms relates to progressive ascendant diffusion of α-synuclein pathology in the brain. The aim of this study was to identify whether c-rel(-/-) deficiency is associated with the onset of premotor signs of PD and spatio-temporal progression of cerebral α-synuclein deposition. METHODS: Intestinal and olfactory functions, intestine and brain α-synuclein deposition as well as striatal alterations, were assessed in c-rel(-/-) and control mice from 2 to 18 months of age. RESULTS: From 2 months of age, c-rel(-/-) mice displayed intestinal constipation and increasing olfactory impairment. At 2 months, c-rel(-/-) mice exhibited a mild α-synuclein accumulation in the distal colon. Moreover, they developed an age-dependent deposition of fibrillary α-synuclein that, starting at 5 months from the olfactory bulbs, dorsal motor nucleus of vagus and locus coeruleus, reached the substantia nigra at 12 months. At this age, the α-synuclein pathology associated with a drop of dopamine transporter in the striatum that anticipated by 6 months the axonal degeneration. From 12 months onwards oxidative/nitrosative stress developed in the striatum in parallel with altered expression of mitochondrial homeostasis regulators in the substantia nigra. CONCLUSIONS: In c-rel(-/-) mice, reproducing a parkinsonian progressive pathology with non-motor and motor symptoms, a Braak-like pattern of brain ascending α-synuclein deposition occurs. The peculiar phenotype of c-rel(-/-) mice envisages a potential contribution of c-Rel dysregulation to the pathogenesis of PD. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s40035-019-0154-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.