Skip to main content
. 2022 Jul 1;11:e78055. doi: 10.7554/eLife.78055

Figure 1. α-synuclein (αSyn) is selectively localized at vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (vGluT1+) axon terminals in mouse brain.

Figure 1.

(A) Representative confocal images showing colocalization of αSyn with vGluT1 (left), but not with vGluT2 (right) in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) (top), cerebral cortex (middle), and the striatum (bottom). Simultaneously collected confocal images from each brain region were split into vGluT1/αSyn and vGluT2/αSyn channels for the purpose of illustration. (B) Zoomed z series of images of the boxed area from the BLA in (A) showing colocalization and correlated changes in the immunoreactive intensities of vGluT1 and αSyn. Such colocalization and correlation are absent between vGluT2 and αSyn within the same region. Images were taken and shown from a + μm z-depth with an inter-section interval of 0.25 μm. (C) Bar graphs showing Pearson correlation coefficient between vGluT1 and αSyn, as well as between vGluT2 and αSyn, in the BLA (αSyn/vGluT1=0.82 ± 0.007, αSyn/vGluT2=0.17 ± 0.004; n=18 slices/4 mice; p<0.0001, MWU), cerebral cortex (αSyn/vGluT1=0.82 ± 0.006, αSyn/vGluT2=0.12 ± 0.009; n=8 slices/3 mice; p=0.0002, MWU), and the striatum (αSyn/vGluT1=0.83 ± 0.006, αSyn/vGluT2=0.17 ± 0.02; n=8 slices/3 mice; p=0.0002, MWU).

Figure 1—source data 1. Source data for plot in Figure 1C.