FIG. 8.

(A) Schematic illustration of the similarity between the PrP and alpha-synuclein proteins in terms of their potential to misfold to form betarich sheets, and polymerize to form oligomers/rod, and amyloid plaques/Lewy Bodies (adapted from ref. ¹). (B) Comparison of Lewy pathology in grafted embryonic dopamine neurons (graft) and in the host substantia nigra (host). Note the similarity in staining for alpha-synuclein, ubiquin, and thioflavin-S (indicative of beta sheet formation). These observations raise the possibility that misfolded alpha-synuclein has spread from affected neurons in the PD brain to unaffected implanted dopamine neurons in a prion-like manner (adapted from ref. ²⁶⁶).