FIGURE 1.

Blockade of α-syn membrane binding by specific antibodies. A, synaptic membranes from α-syn-deficient mice were incubated with 1.5 mg/ml α-syn-deficient brain cytosol and 3 μg of recombinant wild-type human α-syn in the absence (Cytosol) or presence of either pre-immune serum (Pre-Imm) or specific antibodies to presynaptic proteins (α-syn, Rab3a, Synphilin-1, and Synaptophysin). The top panel shows representative Western blots of membrane-bound α-syn and endogenous synaptophysin, and the lower panel shows α-syn binding as a percent of binding in the presence of cytosol alone (mean ± S.E., n = 4). B, α-syn was immunoprecipitated (IP) from detergent-solubilized lysates of synaptosomes from transgenic WT, A30P, A53T, and α-syn knock-out mice using LWS1 anti-α-syn polyclonal antibody. Western blots confirmed the co-immunoprecipitation of Rab3a from α-syn-expressing but not α-syn knock-out animals. *, p < 0.01.