Modulation of α-synuclein fibrillization by ring-fused 2-pyridones: Templation and inhibition involve oligomers with different structure

In a recent study we discovered that a ring-fused 2-pyridone compound triggered fibrillization of a key protein in Parkinson's disease, alpha-synuclein. To reveal how variations in compound structure affect protein aggregation, we now prepared a number of strategic analogs and tested their effects on alpha-synuclein amyloid fiber formation in vitro. We find that, in contrast to the earlier templating effect, some analogs inhibit alpha-synuclein fibrillization. For both templating and inhibiting compounds, the key species formed in the reactions are alpha-synuclein oligomers that contain compound. Despite similar macroscopic appearance, the templating and inhibiting oligomers are distinctly different in secondary structure content. When the inhibitory oligomers are added in seed amounts, they inhibit fresh alpha-synuclein aggregation reactions. Our study demonstrates that small chemical changes to the same central fragment can result in opposite effects on protein aggregation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.