Volume 18, Issue 2 (March 2004)

Use of the atomic force microscope in Parkinson’s disease research has increased due to the discovery that mis-sense mutations (A53T and A30P) in a-synuclein (a-syn) have been linked to early-onset Parkinson’s disease in several families. a-syn, in fibrillar formation, has been identified as a component of the cytoplasmic inclusions known as Lewy bodies, which are characteristic of the Parkinson’s disease brain. Three papers, on accelerated in-vitro fibril formation by a mutant a-syn linked to early-onset Parkinson's disease, a-syn membrane interactions and lipid specificity, and acceleration of oligomerization, not fibrillization, is a shared property of both a-syn mutations linked to early-onset Parkinson’s disease, are examined for their use of atomic force microscopy in imaging a-syn fibril formation...