α-Synuclein induced cholesterol lowering increases tonic and reduces depolarization-evoked synaptic vesicle recycling and glutamate release

α-Synuclein (α-syn) is a key molecule linked to Parkinson’s disease pathology. Physiologically, the monomeric α-syn in the presynaptic termini is involved in regulation of neurotransmission, but the pathophysiology of extracellular monomeric α-syn is still unknown. Utilizing both in vivo and in vitro approaches, we investigated how extracellular α-syn impact presynaptic structure and function. Our data revealed that treatment with exogenous α-syn leads to increased tonic and decreased depolarization-evoked synaptic vesicle (SV) recycling and glutamate release. This was associated with mobilization of molecularly distinct SV pools and reorganization of active zone components. Our study also showed that exogenous α-syn impaired neuronal cholesterol level and that the cholesterol binding domain of α-syn was sufficient to exert the same presynaptic phenotype as the full-length protein. The present study sheds new light on physiological functions of extracellular α-syn in overall maintenance of presynaptic activity that involves the reorganization of both presynaptic compartment and cholesterol-rich plasma membrane domains.