TY - JOUR T1 - No Detectable Effect on Visual Responses Using Functional MRI in a Rodent Model of α-Synuclein Expression JF - eneuro JO - eNeuro DO - 10.1523/ENEURO.0516-20.2021 VL - 8 IS - 3 SP - ENEURO.0516-20.2021 AU - Freja Gam Østergaard AU - Christian Stald Skoven AU - Alex R. Wade AU - Hartwig R. Siebner AU - Bettina Laursen AU - Kenneth Vielsted Christensen AU - Tim B. Dyrby Y1 - 2021/05/01 UR - http://www.eneuro.org/content/8/3/ENEURO.0516-20.2021.abstract N2 - Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is typically diagnosed late in its progression. There is a need for biomarkers suitable for monitoring the disease progression at earlier stages to guide the development of novel neuroprotective therapies. One potential biomarker, α-synuclein, has been found in both the familial cases of PD, as well as the sporadic cases and is considered a key feature of PD. α-synuclein is naturally present in the retina, and it has been suggested that early symptoms of the visual system may be used as a biomarker for PD. Here, we use a viral vector to induce a unilateral expression of human wild-type α-synuclein in rats as a mechanistic model of protein aggregation in PD. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate whether adeno-associated virus (AAV) mediated expression of human wild-type α-synuclein alter functional activity in the visual system. A total of 16 rats were injected with either AAV-α-synuclein (n = 7) or AAV-null (n = 9) in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) of the left hemisphere. The expression of α-synuclein was validated by a motor assay and postmortem immunohistochemistry. Five months after the introduction of the AAV-vector, fMRI showed robust blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses to light stimulation in the visual systems of both control and AAV-α-synuclein animals. However, our results demonstrate that the expression of AAV-α-synuclein does not affect functional activation of the visual system. This negative finding suggests that fMRI-based read-outs of visual responses may not be a sensitive biomarker for PD. ER -