Study on effect of α-Synuclein enhanced survival rate of rat primary cultured neuron

To investigate the effect of α-Synuclein(α-Syn) on the survival rate of brain neurons. We isolated neurons from the neocortex of newborn rats were cultured and added α-Syn into the culture medium to observe the effect of the protein on the primary cultured neurons. In addition, the effect of different concentrations of α-Syn on the neuron growth was studied. The mean survival rate of primary cultured neurons treated with α-Syn was significantly highter than that of control neurons at 1h, 2h and 4h. The effect of α-Syn on increasing the primary cultured survival rate wasn´t change with the increasing of α-Syn concentration and was reversed by anti-α-Syn monoclonal antibody. Western blot and Immunofluorescence staining assay showed α-Syn can enter into the neuron. We indicate that α-Syn can increase the survival rate of primary cultured neuron and it´s a new physiological function of α-Syn.