R1441C and G2019S LRRK2 knockin mice have distinct striatal molecular, physiological, and behavioral alterations

Harry S. Xenias, Chuyu Chen, Shuo Kang, Suraj Cherian, Xiaolei Situ, Bharanidharan Shanmugasundaram, Guoxiang Liu, Giuseppe Scesa, C. Savio Chan*, Loukia Parisiadou

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

LRRK2 mutations are closely associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Convergent evidence suggests that LRRK2 regulates striatal function. Here, by using knock-in mouse lines expressing the two most common LRRK2 pathogenic mutations—G2019S and R1441C—we investigated how LRRK2 mutations altered striatal physiology. While we found that both R1441C and G2019S mice displayed reduced nigrostriatal dopamine release, hypoexcitability in indirect-pathway striatal projection neurons, and alterations associated with an impaired striatal-dependent motor learning were observed only in the R1441C mice. We also showed that increased synaptic PKA activities in the R1441C and not G2019S mice underlie the specific alterations in motor learning deficits in the R1441C mice. In summary, our data argue that LRRK2 mutations’ impact on the striatum cannot be simply generalized. Instead, alterations in electrochemical, electrophysiological, molecular, and behavioral levels were distinct between LRRK2 mutations. Our findings offer mechanistic insights for devising and optimizing treatment strategies for PD patients.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number1211
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume5
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2022

Funding

This work was supported by Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (L.P.), NIH R01 NS097901 (L.P.), R01 NS097901 (C.S.C.), R01 NS069777 (C.S.C.), P50 NS047085 (C.S.C.), R01 MH109466 (C.S.C.), R01 NS088528 (C.S.C.), T32 NS041234 (H.S.X.), F32 NS098793 (H.S.X.). This research was funded in whole or in part by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s [ASAP-020600] through the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF). For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to all Author Accepted Manuscripts arising from this submission. We thank Brianna Berceau for colony management and technical support. We also thank Dr. Heather Melrose for providing the LRRK2 G2019S knock-in mice. We thank Brianna Berceau for colony management and technical support. We also thank Dr. Heather Melrose for providing the LRRK2 G2019S knock-in mice. Parts of Figs. , , and were created with Biorender.com.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'R1441C and G2019S LRRK2 knockin mice have distinct striatal molecular, physiological, and behavioral alterations'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this