Manganese spreads neurodegeneration

Abstract

Neurodegeneration Chronic exposure to high amounts of manganese, such as that experienced by welders, is associated with symptoms of Parkinson's disease. A hallmark of the disease is aggregation of the protein α-synuclein, which is toxic to neurons. Harischandra et al. found that exosomes isolated from serum collected from welders contained misfolded α-synuclein. In cultured cells and mouse models, exposure to manganese or isolated manganese-induced exosomes promoted the transfer of α-synuclein between neurons and microglia, which induced inflammation and neuronal cell death. Sci. Signal. 12 , eaau4543 (2019).