Transcriptomic changes upon the formation of a functional "on demand" degradation network in microglia I

We report the exchange of alpha-synuclein aggregates from one cell to another and examined transcriptomic changes following protein exchange. By obtaining 12,461 genes from isolated RNA samples, we performed differential expression analysis and generated gene ontology enrichment and network analysis. Differential expression (DE) analysis comparing alpha-synuclein-treated with untreated microglia identified 687 upregulated and 1502 downregulated genes. Upregulated genes were linked to inflammation, apoptosis, ER stress and intracellular protein targeting, while downregulated genes included categories related to mitosis, cytoskeleton and vesicle mediated transport. Co-culturing alpha-synuclein treated with untreated microglia largely suppressed the inflammatory and apoptotic phenotype of microglia thereby rescuing cells from cell death. Overall design: Examination of transcriptomic changes in primary microglia treated with alpha-synuclein