Neurotoxicity of pre-incubated alpha-synuclein with neutral nanoliposomes on PC12 and SHSY5Y cell lines

Alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) is an abundant protein in the brain with high tendency to convert into toxic aggregated forms that are involved in neurons degeneration in Parkinson's patients (PD). The conversion of α-Syn toward toxic aggregates may associate with bio-membranes and the interaction between α-Syn and bio-mimic liposomes can trigger the neurotoxicity. Some inhibitors of α-Syn aggregation are potential drugs to cure PD; however, they have low stability and solubility at physiological conditions. Using nano-carriers such as nanoliposomes may overcome such defects. Nevertheless, there are few studies on nanoliposomes effects on neuronal cells and α-Syn. Herein; we investigated the neurotoxicity and also fibrinogenesis of neutral charged nanoliposomes. Thin layer evaporation method and the Mini-Extruder set were employed to formulate the nanoliposomes from Dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine to the size of ≤ 100 nm. Fibrillation and also cytotoxicity of α-Syn treated with different concentrations of nanoliposome were measured by different assays. Neither neurotoxicity nor fibril induction were observed when α-Syn treated with different concentrations of nanoliposome (35-3000 µM). These results well indicated that nanoliposome at the concentrations, which are needed to drug delivery, not only be able to prevent fibrillation process, but also have no considerable toxic effects on the neural cells.