Fig. 1

PFF induce α-Syn aggregation and prion-like propagation in organotypic hippocampal slices. Full-length (1-140) mouse PFF were characterized using diverse biochemical and biophysical methodologies. a Coomassie blue staining after SDS-PAGE protein separation. b K114 fluorescent amyloid assay. Y-axis demonstrates the K114 fluorescence in arbitrary units. Data are shown as mean ± SEM, ****P < 0.0001 based on two-tailed unpaired t test. c Dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis. d Following in vitro characterization and validation, PFF were injected into an organotypic hippocampal culture slice (OHCS) model. Abundant aggregation, especially at the dentate gyrus (DG), is seen, 7 days post injection (dpi) of mouse PFF, in mouse OHCS. Aggregation is observed both at the injection site (DG) and spreading throughout the hippocampal slice to the CA3 and CA1 region. Aggregates are positive for the conformation-specific MJF-14 epitope (green) and for serine-129 phosphorylation (red, antibody 11A5). Scale bars: i, iii–v: 20 µm, inset: 5 µm, ii: 10 µm